Economics Minister Habeck takes two days to visit pharmaceutical locations in three federal states. The industry has clear expectations.
The pharmaceutical industry sees structural problems in Germany. “We have a bad quartet of excessive bureaucracy, a shortage of skilled workers, high energy costs and crumbling infrastructure,” said the managing director of the Chemical Industry Association, Wolfgang Große Entrup, to the dpa before a “pharmaceutical trip” by Federal Economics Minister Robert Habeck (Greens).
In addition, pharmaceutical policy must become significantly more innovation-friendly again. “Generic drug production in Germany must also be worthwhile again. The government’s first steps on antibiotics and children’s medicines were good, more must follow.”
Habeck is setting off today on a two-day trip to pharmaceutical locations in Hesse, Lower Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt. He visits, among others, large corporations such as Merck and medium-sized companies. According to the ministry, Habeck wants to get an idea of the challenges facing the industry. It should be about how the conditions for the healthcare industry in Germany could be improved.
“Didn’t produce more in 2023 than in 2005”
The Federal Chemical Employers Association explained that the chemical and pharmaceutical industries are struggling with disadvantages such as high energy costs, rising labor costs and excessive bureaucracy. “We are losing competitiveness and will not have produced more in 2023 than in 2005. In parallel to these challenges, our industry must invest in transformation. Sustainability, climate-neutral production and digitalization are absolutely business-relevant. It is essential that the transformation succeeds and that the structural change does not become a structural break .”
Above all, there is a need for a reliable energy policy and less bureaucracy for companies, better education, modern infrastructure, more digitalization and long-term sustainable social security systems.
Federal government wants to strengthen the location
At the end of last year, the federal government decided on a new pharmaceutical strategy for the industry. The goal: Germany should become more attractive again as a research and production location for the pharmaceutical industry. Among other things, faster approval procedures and unbureaucratic approvals are intended to strengthen drug research.
In the past, pharmaceutical production has increasingly been concentrated in a few manufacturing sites, particularly in China and India, it said. This development has led to more dependency. There should be incentives to locate pharmaceutical production facilities in Germany, for example for antibiotics or cancer drugs.
Delivery bottlenecks not resolved
The Ministry of Economic Affairs announced that during the corona pandemic there were delivery bottlenecks in the basic supply of important medicines, such as fever juice for children and antibiotics. These have by no means been resolved. Providing patients with these important medicines is essential. Dependencies on important active ingredients should be reduced. The ministry is currently working, among other things, on adapting procurement law – this should make an important contribution to the establishment of manufacturing facilities in the EU.
Große Entrup said that the first suggestions from the pharmaceutical strategy to strengthen the domestic location were good and a great opportunity. “The coalition must now implement this consistently and with a lasting effect. Pharmaceutical research and production belong to Germany. Making both competitive and therefore future-proof is not only our expectation, but a social necessity.”
Source: Stern
