New Drug Development Under health Care Reform

The common denominator of all the health care reforms currently taking place worldwide is cost containment, and for pharmaceuticals this means price controls in one way or another, according to Jurgen Drews, managing director of Hoffmann-La Roche, writing in the journal Drugs Made in germany.

Cost constraints on drugs, positive and negative lists, stricter reimbursement schemes and cost ceilings for total drug spending all point to one essential message, he says; industrial countries want more therapeutic benefit for their money. Industry's goal is clear; it must provide drugs that are not only safe and effective but which also represent clear and measurable advances over existing drugs, and which help save money on the costs of disease and costs of other treatments.

In practice, says prof Drews, this means there may be even fewer New Chemical Entities than the annual average of 40-50 now, but the proportion of important new drugs, or at least of measurable improvements, must be higher than at present.