Corporate Magazine 2012 - Boehringer Ingelheim

21 View of Athens.2 Production site in Koropi,Greece.1increasing regionalisation. For examplein Italy, and recently also in Spain,where the national, regional and evenlocal authorities are now also decidingto release new medicines for use in particularregions or hospitals.This can take place via lists of authorisedmedicines (i.e. all medicines thatdoctors may prescribe placed on a list)or through medical guidelines whichdictate when a drug should be used.More and more countries, for exampleGermany and Portugal, are turning tothe method of setting medicine budgetsfor physicians which, if exceeded,can have negative economic consequencesfor the physicians.Ways to solutionsGovernments and the pharmaceuticalindustry are currently going through aphase in which both sides are learningto understand the other side in a changingenvironment and are beginning toaccommodate one another. In severalcountries, for example at a national levelin Greece and Portugal, or at a regionallevel in Italy and Spain, work is alreadybeing undertaken to find ways that allowboth sides to achieve their goals.Such solutions can differ totally.Agreements between the respectivepayers in healthcare systems and pharmaceuticalcompanies are playing agrowing role.For the research-driven pharmaceuticalindustry in Europe, this trend meansthat it is becoming increasingly difficultfor an innovative substance to reach patientsafter registration, and that thisprocess takes longer and longer.Agreements on additional services,such as promoting preventativemeasures or supporting patient programmes,or even public-private jointventures in patient care, make a whollynew form of cooperation possible.122 Boehringer Ingelheim annual report 2012