The motto of this year's Health Economics Talks at the Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences was "Biotechnology meets Health Economics" on October 14, 2022. Initiated and organized by the Institute for Management, Economics and Care in the Health Sector (IMÖVG), the symposium brought together experts and decision-makers from medical biotechnology companies, politics, health care and science and provided impetus for successfully mastering the challenges facing the innovative biotechnology industry in the interest of efficient medical care. To kick off the high-profile conference, Clemens Hoch, Minister of Science and Health of Rhineland-Palatinate, highlighted the success factors for the development of biotechnology clusters from a political perspective.
Germany has the chance to become a leading international biotechnology location. Thanks to the first mRNA vaccine from Mainz, our state has gained worldwide visibility," the ruling traffic light coalition formulated in its coalition agreement. Against this background, the Health Economics Talks 2022 were devoted to so-called "red" biotechnology, the application of biotechnological processes in medical care, from a health economics perspective. The mRNA-based vaccine against COVID-19 from BioNTech is certainly the best-known success of these innovative processes. However, the enormous importance of red biotechnology is also demonstrated by sober figures: For example, so-called biopharmaceuticals now account for almost half of all newly approved drugs in Germany.
The enormous growth in importance of the topic became clear right at the start of the symposium: After the welcome address to the 19th Health Economics Talks by Vice President Prof. Dr. Edith Rüger-Muck and Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, Dean of the University of Heidelberg, Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler, Vice President of the University of Heidelberg. Eveline Häusler, Dean of the Department of Management, Controlling, HealthCare, Heike Arend, Managing Director of the Rhineland-Palatinate Initiative for the Future (ZIRP), outlined the enormous future potential of biotechnology for Rhineland-Palatinate in her welcoming address and attested to the topic area's "tremendous dynamism". At the same time, Arend also asked how biotechnological research and know-how could be transferred into entrepreneurial action and pleaded for a "courageous handling" of the available data treasures according to the French or Swedish model. With this, she wonderfully led over to the speech "Upscaling the BioNTech Experience: success factors for the development of a biotechnology cluster in Rhineland-Palatinate" by the Minister of Science and Health RLP, Clemens Hoch:
"The Health Economics Talks at HWG LU are not only a first address for the exchange of all sectors of the healthcare system with science and politics, but meanwhile also a very nice tradition", said Minister Clemens Hoch. "With the main topic of the conference 'Biotechnology meets Health Economics', bridges are built between health, research and transfer. Biotechnology is one of the major future and cross-sectional projects of the state. It is not without reason that the state government has allocated more than 200 million euros over the past ten years for research funding, research-related infrastructure and construction measures, and for the establishment of non-university research institutions in the life sciences or health-related research."
Dr. Gösta Jamin, Professor of Finance and Banking at the Department of Services and Consulting, then turned his attention to the topic of "Healthcare BioTech and Venture Capital." On the one hand, he outlined why investments in the field of biotechnology are a high-risk investment - very high investment sums, long payback periods. At the same time, however, based on his extensive consulting experience with start-ups, Jamin showed how more investor money could be mobilized for this sector, for example, through venture capital firms specializing in biotechnology, the opening of capital collection agencies (insurance companies, pension funds) for higher-risk investments or a state venture capital fund, whose management, however, must be independent of political guidelines, according to Jamin.
Dr. Sandra Zimmermann, Head of International Social Policy at the Darmstadt-based WifOR Institute, then dealt with the quantification of the value added by the healthcare biotech industry in Europe. She impressively demonstrated the high added value of pharmaceutical biotechnology in Europe in particular and the immense importance of the healthcare industry for the German and European economies: "Healthcare can no longer be viewed merely as a cost factor. The healthcare industry is an engine for growth and employment, and a stable healthcare system is a guarantee of prosperity," said Zimmermann. At the same time, she urged that the framework conditions for biotechnology in Germany be improved, since Germany has long since ceased to be "the pharmacy of the world" and generates less growth in this segment than its European neighbors. A key factor here is the economic importance of data, which forms the basis for new business models and technological processes.
Finally, Fabian Berkemeier, Head of Value & Access Strategy at the Berlin-based company IGES, dealt with the regulations of the healthcare system and the refinancing of research and development through successful innovations in pharmaceutical biotechnology. In his presentation, "Innovative Reimbursement - Modelsfor High-Priced Therapeutic Approaches," Berkemeier outlined the shift in the pharmaceutical industry from developing drugs for the major common diseases to more targeted therapies with lower patient numbers. He countered the resulting vicious circle of high prices for refinancing, increased control by payers, and associated restrictions on access to the drugs with the consequence of renewed price increases with various models: for example, repayments by the manufacturer in the event of therapy failure, cohort models, or installment payments.
The organizers of the Health Economics Talks were also satisfied with the 19th edition of the symposium: "The conference succeeded in bridging the gap between the challenges that arise in connection with the further development of biotechnology as an innovative industry of the future on the one hand, and health economics knowledge and design expertise on the other. The numerous questions and comments from the auditorium show how highly the players in the healthcare sector, whether health insurance companies, service providers or the healthcare industry, rate the importance of this technology and the challenges it poses for their own field of activity. The need for appropriately qualified specialists was emphasized several times. With the existing expertise not only in the field of health economics, but also in areas such as innovation management, data analytics or finance, the HWG LU can make a contribution to the training of professionals as well as to the "translation of research into value creation", to pick up a phrase from the conference," summed up Prof. Dr. Elke Raum and Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler.
Technical contact:
Ludwigshafen University of Applied Sciences
Department of Management, Controlling, HealthCare
Prof. Dr. Eveline Häusler
Dean
Tel. 0621 5203-135
E-mail: eveline.haeusler@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de
Prof. Dr. Elke Raum
Chair of Medical Management
Tel. 0621/5203-126
E-mail: elke.raum@ 8< SPAM protection, please remove >8 hwg-lu.de
