German politics rebuke EU proposal for boosting EU-wide cooperation for health technology assessment

Tue, 2018 / 05 / 22

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Ihr Ansprechpartner Prof. Matthias P. Schönermark, M.D., Ph.D.
Prof. Matthias P. Schönermark, M.D., Ph.D.
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On January 31st, 2018 the EU Commission released a proposal to standardize the assessment of an (added) value for new medicines and medical devices among EU Member States. The German pharma industry appreciated the proposed plans. However, after harsh critique from German health insurance authorities, both the German Bundestag and the German Federal Council also rebuked the plans of the EU.

According to the EU commission, reinforced Health Technology Assessment (HTA) co-operation at EU level would lead to more transparency of the added clinical value of new medicines and medical technologies and would allow patients faster access to innovative healthcare products. Moreover, cooperative HTA would improve the competitiveness of the medical industry and pharmaceutical companies would no longer have to struggle with various national HTA procedures.

Nevertheless, the German Bundestag and the German Federal Council strongly criticized the proposal of the EU Commission. It may interfere with national competences of healthcare organization and could influence the pricing of medicines in Germany. Just like the German health insurance cooperation (GKV-Spitzenverband), the Federal Government and the federal states also fear the degradation of current HTA standards. This would interfere with the well-established AMNOG process and would exceed the competencies of the EU.

SKC is your competent partner for all of your questions and requests regarding HTA and the AMNOG process. Only recently, our managing partner, Prof. Matthias P. Schönermark, M.D., Ph.D., held a keynote about this topic at the International Plasma Protein Congress in Budapest.

BY Prof. Matthias P. Schönermark, M.D., Ph.D., managing director and Lydia Gibson, M.Sc. psychology

Sources:
European Commission - Press release: Assessing health technology in the EU
Deutscher Bundestag: Fraktionen rügen EU-Gesundheitsvorstoß (German only)
Beschluss des Bundesrates: Vorschlag für eine Verordnung des Europäischen Parlaments und des Rates über die Bewertung von Gesundheitstechnologien und zur Änderung der Richtlinie 2011/24/EU (German only)
GKV-Spitzenverband: EU will Bewertung von Arzneimitteln an sich ziehen (German only)
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