Prof. Katharina Blankart, PhD Faculty of Economics and Business Administration University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany

31 Aug Fewer New Medicines Available in Germany, Compared to United States

Posted at 17:45h in Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Pharmaceutical Companies by

MedicalResearch.com Interview with:

Prof. Katharina Blankart, PhD Faculty of Economics and Business Administration University of Duisburg-Essen Essen, Germany

Prof. Blankart

Prof. Katharina Blankart, PhD
Faculty of Economics and Business Administration
University of Duisburg-Essen
Essen, Germany

MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?

Response: Given the high drug prices and policy discussions, we were interested whether the US may miss opportunities from medical innovation in availability of medicines compared to Germany. Since 2011, Germany has a unique way to determine value of new medicines after regulatory approval and to negotiate prices. We aimed to find out differences in availability of medicines in these two countries and timing of availability. We evaluated the differences in timing of availability and to characterize medicines not available to one of the two countries.

MedicalResearch.com: What should readers take away from your report?

Response: Our results suggest that compared to the U.S., fewer new medicines are available in Germany (80% compared to 96%), which enter the market a median of 4 months later. When we look at the set of medicines not available in the US, we find that only a minority of medicines that available to German patients would potentially add value to US patients.

MedicalResearch.com: What recommendations do you have for future research as a results of this study

Response: The data of available medicines offer important avenues for future research that allow to address important questions about the role of regulatory approval, health technology assessment and incentives for research and development such as: What are the sources of delay in timing and scope of medicines available in Germany? Does health technology assessment combined with price negotiations speed up or slow down availability? What is the interplay of regulatory approval, technology assessment and incentives for R&D from private and public sources?

MedicalResearch.com: Is there anything else you would like to add? Any disclosures?

Response: Our study was conducted based on openly available data sources and includes extensive validation of a medicine was not available in the US or Germany. International comparisons will allow substantiating why and how availability of medicines varies across health systems.

Citation:

Blankart K, Naci H, Chandra A. Availability of New Medicines in the US and Germany From 2004 to 2018. JAMA Netw Open. 2022;5(8):e2229231. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2022.29231

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Last Updated on August 31, 2022 by Marie Benz MD FAAD

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