German pharma hails successful 2011; views AMNOG

The German pharmaceutical industry can be proud of its progress last year, said Birgit Fischer, director general of the trade association VFA, noting that 27 new drugs were introduced in 2011, one more than in the previous year.

Two of them give patients with a particularly intractable form of hepatitis C, genotype 1, a much better chance of being cured, while treatment time should fall significantly. 2011 also saw the first treatments to appear in many years against lupus and malignant melanoma.

New drugs are available to combat advanced breast and prostate cancer, and there has been considerable progress against multiple sclerosis – three new medicines are now on the market. Five drugs have also come out to tackle or prevent heart and circulatory disease.