Generics in danger: Austria's pharmaceutical supply is on the brink!

Generics in danger: Austria's pharmaceutical supply is on the brink!

Österreich - The Austrian Generalic Association has a new campaign with the title "No medication? This is sick." Started to draw attention to the precarious situation of pharmaceutical supply in Austria. This initiative aims to raise awareness of the crucial role of generics in health care and to illustrate the challenges for the manufacturers. The President of the Association, Wolfgang Andiel, explains how important generics are for the treatment of millions of patients and emphasizes their importance for relieving the health system.

Current challenges in the supply of drugs

But despite these positive aspects, generic care is under pressure. Around 500 medication, including antidepressants, antipepressants as well as means for cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, are currently not or only available in a limited extent in Austria. Andiel warns that the existing price pressure is seriously at risk of generic availability. Over a quarter of generics have been taken from the market in Europe in the past ten years.

A worrying trend is the increasing discrepancy between the share of pension and the cost share of the generics. While generics in Germany have already identified 80 % of drugs, they only cause 8 % of the health insurance expenses. This is a clear indication of the risk of delivery bottlenecks, as also confirms the IQVIA price tape analysis. This analysis shows that 66 pharmaceutical companies in Austria will lose EUR 82 million annually by the new price tape, which provides for a maximum of 20 % above the cheapest price.

The effects on patients and manufacturers

In a short -term perspective, health insurance companies benefit from a cost reduction that amounts to around 100 million EUR per year. In the long term, however, the risk of reducing the market offer is seen, which could harm the patient. Current delivery bottlenecks already affect antibiotics and fever -lowering juices; Further medication, especially antipsychotics and antidepressants, could soon no longer be available.

For illustration, the price for monat therapy with pantoprazole, which costs an average of 3.80 euros, is mentioned - less than the price of an average melange in Vienna. The price for a generic tablet is currently 16 cents, which endangers the financial feasibility of production, storage and transport. In addition, an increase in the prescribed amounts of cheaper generics and biosimilars is required to ensure security of supply.

Finally, it should be emphasized that the Austrian Generalic Association and the Biosimilarsverband Austria are calling for new rules for fair reimbursement. Adaptation of drug prices to the consumer price index and the abolition of impending deletion procedures from the reimbursement code from 2024 are also intended to avoid further pressure on the supply. Overall, the situation shows that there is a need for action in order to stabilize the supply of drugs in the long term.

For more information on this topic, interested readers can be the articles from OTS , Generic and Visit Generic Association