Spotlight on Germany:  Innovative Agreements

 

Bridgehead’s Sasha Richardson was interviewed by In Vivo journal and contributed to their feature article on “Pricing Experiments: Pharmas get Creative in Germany”. The article provides an overview of the various innovative tactics that manufacturers are attempting in order to either gain access to the German market with their novel products or persuade the payers that their existing products should be used in preference to the alternatives.


A key focus has been on contracting, and Sasha is of the opinion that we can expect more contracting in Germany, for branded as well as generic products. She points out that financial contracting is already in play through mechanisms such as discounting, rebates, cost caps, price caps, price-volume agreements or other product-specific agreements to reduce budget impact.


Crucial to the success of such innovative agreements is that they are not transparent. For the agreements to work, this lack of transparency is essential, otherwise other markets that reference Germany will want the same, presumably, good deal.


Sasha is firmly of the belief that as these innovative agreements evolve we will see less performance or out-comes based schemes and more financial ones. As she sees it “risk-sharing will remain the exception, rather than the rule, as in most markets”.


Click here to read In Vivo's article on Pricing Experiments


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