Berlin. The left wants to get to the bottom of the speculation about a “Lex Lilly”. In a statement published this Monday Investigation The parliamentary group demands information from the federal government on whether “the content of the federal government’s pharmaceutical strategy is based on content agreements with the company Eli Lilly”. The government has 14 days to respond.
The background is that planned in the Medical Research Law (MFG) cabinet draft – and widely controversial – Introduction of confidential reimbursement prices for new patent-protected medicines. Several media outlets speculated that the project was one in particular Investment of billions Lillys in Alzey, Rhineland-Palatinate.
In their preliminary observations to their request, the left-wing deputies cite the Chancellor’s speech on the date of the inauguration of the North American company, at the beginning of April. Scholz said, among other things, that he remembered “how many conversations” Lilly CEO Dave Ricks “had with the economy minister, the health minister and the science minister” “to set the direction for this investment.”
And what do other EU members think about this?
The government must now disclose what discussions coalition representatives have had with business representatives before mid-November 2023 (this was followed by the announcement of the MFG’s core principles in a “strategy paper” in early December). And “to what extent the Medical Research Act, pharmaceutical strategy or confidential reimbursement amounts were discussed in these discussions”. In the course of this, questions are asked more directly about a causal link between the new factory building and legislation.
In total, the Left’s “Small Inquiry” contains 30 positions. These also include questions about previous reactions from other EU states to the German plan to introduce confidential reimbursement prices. Or the change of opinion of the Federal Minister of Health, who years ago spoke out vehemently against secret reimbursement prices in a disagreement with his predecessor Hermann Gröhe (CDU). (cw)