Pharma Deutschland

Berlin – October 30, 2026 -- Only 23.5% of respondents say they use Germany's electronic patient record (ePA), even though 81.5% know it, according to a representative Civey survey commissioned by industry association Pharma Deutschland, 18 months after the nationwide rollout.

Awareness is high, but usage has barely moved since launch

The ePA has been available nationwide since April 29, 2025. Pharma Deutschland says its surveys show awareness was already as high a year ago as it is today, while the number of users has hardly risen in that period.

Civey has run continuous live monitoring for the association since January 2025. Its representative results draw on 5,000 responses.

Berlin – October 30, 2026 -- All 34 digital health application (DiGA) companies surveyed by Bitkom report a worsening situation for manufacturers over the past two years, and 82% describe the deterioration as severe. Industry association Pharma Deutschland cited the findings in calling for reliable reimbursement and less bureaucracy for digital therapies.

Three in four manufacturers rate DiGA reimbursement as inadequate

74% of respondents consider current remuneration not or rather not appropriate relative to development, operating, evidence and approval effort. 85% see high development and approval costs as a drawback for economic viability, and 76% rate investment security as low.

Berlin – September 15, 2026 -- The European Commission is redrawing public procurement rules to treat supply security as a strategic asset, pressuring Germany to overhaul how statutory health insurers award pharmaceutical rebate contracts.

Brussels Moves to Rank Quality and Resilience Above Lowest Price

The Commission's draft directive would require public tenders to be awarded based on the best price-quality ratio rather than price alone, explicitly allowing supply security and resilience to factor into contract awards. The proposal also permits splitting large contracts into smaller lots to reduce dependency on single suppliers and diversify supply chains. For strategically sensitive procurement categories, the draft opens the door to preferential treatment for European or trade-aligned suppliers.