Lilly, Novo Nordisk and Sanofi-Aventis are cutting insulin prices in Germany, Europe's biggest drug market, after government regulators said new versions of the diabetes therapy aren't worth their cost.
The world's largest insulin makers will trim prices by as much as 30 percent on rapid-acting versions of the drug. Sanofi forecasts unchanged sales in Germany, while Lilly's profit margin on insulin will shrink and Novo Nordisk will lose as much as 100 million kroner ($14.3 million) in sales this year.
Germany has followed the U.K. and U.S. health insurers in slowing pharmaceutical spending by weighing a medicine's costs against its benefits.
Such reviews will help slow drug sales growth in Europe's top five markets to 3 to 4 percent in 2007 from 4 to 5 percent last year say IMS.
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