New blockbusters in pharma - German experience

Increasing costs for innovative drugs stir the health care market. For example this development can be seen in the new therapy options of hepatitis C, a new report from Germany-based data provider INSIGHT Health points out.

In Germany alone, the market segment of systemic antiviral drugs generated a sales volume of 2 billion euros ($2.2 billion) in the wholesale market in 2015 and over two third of this amount was generated by all substances for the treatment of hepatitis C, which generated about 4% of the wholesale revenue.

Not only expensive antiviral innovations determine the pharmaceutical market. In the field of anti-neoplastics new kinase inhibitors generate revenue growth. Since 2010 the sales volume of German wholesalers has doubled in this market segment and reached 1 billion euros in the last year. For the therapy of cancer in advanced stage as well as severe chronic diseases new substances entered the market in 2015, which have already reached a sales volume of more than 62 million euros in the same year.