Visit by the US Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) to Berlin

BIO Deutschland recently welcomed important visitors from the US. James C. Greenwood, President and CEO of the US Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO), and Joseph Damond, Bio’s Senior Vice President, International Affairs, visited BIO Deutschland in Berlin on 14 November 2012 to discuss current topics in the pharmaceutical and biotech sectors.

The meeting was attended by the Chairman of the Board of BIO Deutschland, Peter Heinrich, and BIO Deutschland staff, as well as by several member companies and allied associations such as the German Pharmaceutical Industry Association (BPI) and the Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies (vfa). For organisational reasons, the meeting was held at Ernst & Young’s office. The participants discussed Germany’s widely criticised Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products, which interferes significantly in the pricing of new medicinal products. There was also discussion on the need to generate the necessary pricing data as early as the first phase of clinical development. This need creates a further obstacle for small and medium-sized enterprises in terms of time and costs. Moreover, it also poses an additional investment risk. As other European countries use Germany as a reference country for pricing medicinal products, the Act on the Reform of the Market for Medicinal Products also has an impact outside Germany. These topics were discussed in detail at the meeting between BIO Deutschland and BIO. The US pricing system was explained and compared with the German system. The participants also discussed the burden that the new system places on US-German cooperation in terms of biopharmaceutical development.

All of the participants welcomed the opportunity to have such a productive discussion. They are planning further collaboration in this field.

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