Almirall could pull Sativex from German market due to inadequate pricing

Almirall (ALM: MC), Spain’s largest pharma company and the licensee for UK-based GW Pharmaceuticals’ (AIM: GWP) cannabis-based prescription multiple sclerosis spasticity drug Sativex, has indicted that it might withdraw the product from the German market because of an unacceptable price decision from the country’s authorities.

In June 2012 the German Federal Joint Committee (G-BA), the national reimbursement authority, determined that Sativex provides added benefit over current treatment options in the treatment of spasticity in multiple sclerosis. The next step in the process has been for Almirall to negotiate a price for Sativex with the German National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds.

After several months of inconclusive discussions, Almirall recently attended a meeting with an arbitration board. The outcome of this meeting, which was communicated to Almirall today, was the determination of a price significantly lower than the reimbursed Sativex price in other European countries. Sativex is one of several recent examples of new medicines that have not been appropriately valued by the new German reimbursement system, according to a statement from GW Pharma.