Lauterbach: New law to bring pharmaceutical research back to Germany
The German government wants to use the Medical Research Act to bring large-scale pharmaceutical research and production back to Germany. "Germany is falling behind in terms of the number of clinical trials per capita," said Health Minister Karl Lauterbach.
"The central problem is that we have very slow processes that are very expensive." This is why the Medical Research Act is intended to significantly simplify the approval procedures at federal and state level, for example, but also the use of data together with the planned Digital Act. It is due to come into force next spring. Reuters had reported that the law is to be passed by the Federal Cabinet before Christmas.
Germany is still good at basic research in the pharmaceutical sector, said Lauterbach. "But the UK has about ten times as many patents as we do and about twenty times as many production sites," added the SPD politician.
The United States is also very good. With a set of laws, in particular the Medical Research Act, the Federal Government wants to ensure that an additional eight billion euros in added value is created each year in the pharmaceutical sector in Germany. In future, approval is to be completed within 25 days and the federal states are to be involved in the planning.
On Thursday, Lauterbach presented the industry's plans at a meeting in the Chancellery together with Chancellor Olaf Scholz, Economics Minister Robert Habeck and Research Minister Bettina Stark-Watzinger.
The background to the pharmaceutical strategy is to reduce dependencies on supplies from non-EU countries, for example. To this end, the German government and the EU Commission want to locate more pharmaceutical production in Germany and Europe. The US company Eli Lilly recently announced that it would be investing around 2.3 billion euros in a new plant in Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate.
The Medical Research Act, as proposed by the German government, aims to simplify approval processes and utilize data together with the Digital Act, with the intention of attracting large-scale pharmaceutical research to Germany, as mentioned by Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. This act is expected to shorter the approval process to 25 days and involve federal states in planning, aiming to create an additional 8 billion euros in added value annually in the pharmaceutical sector.
To further strengthen Germany's pharmaceutical sector, Lauterbach pointed out that the US has significantly more patents and production sites compared to Germany, emphasizing the need for more robust legislation.
In addition to the Medical Research Act, the EU Commission and the German government are collaborating to locate more pharmaceutical production in Germany and Europe, as can be seen with US company Eli Lilly's investment of 2.3 billion euros in a new plant in Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate.
Source: www.ntv.de
