The new discount on combination drug therapies in Germany: First numbers and assessment from a payor perspective

The “GKV Financial Stabilization Act” (GKV-FinStG), introduced in November 2022, brought several changes to the German pricing system for drugs, including a novel discount on pre-selected combination therapies. From October 2023 onwards, German statutory health insurance funds (SHIs) are entitled to a discount of 20 percent of the manufacturers’ prices on outpatient drugs that are prescribed in combination with another drug (for new drugs regulated by AMNOG) as designated by the “Gemeinsamer Bundesausschuss” (G-BA; §35a (3) sentence 4 SGB V). The German government expected medium-term savings of approximately €185 million per year.