How is Teva being affected by the German market environment’s main issues?
There are two main aspects of the German market. The first one is that Germany offers a high market penetration for generic drugs as compared to other European markets. Secondly, there is a high acceptance of generics among the population, physicians and pharmacists and this success is derived from the high quality image that the main German generic players have long created in the market. Nevertheless, as Mr. Schmidt pointed out, Germany also faces challenges such as over-regulation and over-competition that are slowly weakening the German generic industry. The multiple pricing schemes have generated an environment where generic producers have to offer discounts to everyone: direct discounts to wholesalers; incentives for pharmacies; legal rebates to health insurers; and now even some physicians’ organizations expect participation in savings generated through prescriptions. Consequently, the German market demands a constant rethinking of our business model and marketing expenditure ef
