From pharmaceutical-technology.com
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Germany rejected the use of Vazkepa for the reduction of cardiovascular risk due to a disagreement over Vazkepa’s reimbursement price. In recent times, this has been an issue for some pharmaceutical companies entering the German market. In late August, Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson and Johnson announced its withdrawal of its cancer drug Rybrevant (amivantamab) from German markets after a negative Health Technology Assessment outcome, saying the drug’s possible reimbursement price was unattractively low for the pharmaceutical company. Furthermore, in August, Novartis withdrew its bid to market paracetamol liquid for similar reasons.
Abuaf says the overall pharmaceutical reimbursement environment in Germany is taxing on the industry. “Ultimately, we were forced to withdraw from that negotiation because we are a one-product company. And we need to make sure that when we bring the value to the market, we receive value in exchange”.
Yes - the Amarin braintrust has proven themselves clowns, but their withdrawal from a likely low-ball German price that would quickly be adopted by the rest of the EU may well be the correct long-term approach. It's a question of the total revenue involved: Is (Germany volumes + rest of EU) at the German price greater or less than ex-Germany EU volumes at non-Germany pricing? Looks like multiple major pharma houses have said "No" to that, and walked away from Germany. German govt doesn't seem to care much about the health of their marginal citizen.