Techniker Krankenkasse Study – The fair price calculator could help Germany save yearly 13 billion € of medicines costs

09.09.2021

Patent-protected drugs are one of the main cost drivers for statutory health insurance (GKV). Despite a relatively low prescription frequency, they account for almost half of all pharmaceutical costs due to their very high prices. For this reason, the German health insurer Techniker Krankenkasse along with the University of Bremen ran AIM’s calculator for fair medicines price into 7 medicines in the country used to treat orphan or ultra-rare diseases, chronic diseases and oncology. The case studies revealed that the prices currently paid are twice to 13 times the amount of the fair price that the study team calculated. TK calculated that the German healthcare system could save yearly 13 billion € in terms of pharmaceutical products costs.

Thomas Ballast, Vice-Chairman of the Board of Directors of Techniker Krankenkasse said: “Despite highly regulated markets, the prices of new medicines are constantly rising. The AMNOG procedure has so far not been able to stop this development adequately. The AIM fair price calculator shows that it is possible to calculate a different price that counteracts the current trend.”

TK concludes that AIM’s model is an enrichment in the discussion on fair prices of medicines and should be seen as additional information for price negotiations, as well as an incentive for manufacturers to create transparency on research and production costs.

You can find the study here: https://www.aim-mutual.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/10/TK_AIM-Fair-Pricing-Calculator-EN_Rev.pdf