The Verband Forschender Arzneimittelhersteller or Association of Research-Based Pharmaceutical Companies was founded in 1994 with headquarters in Berlin as an Eingetragener Verein. It is the German or trade group for global players in the pharmaceutical industry.
Difference to the other three trade groups
pharmaceutical companies in Germany are represented by the Bundesverband der Pharmazeutischen Industrie. Another pharmaceutical industry association in Germany, the Bundesverband der Arzneimittelhersteller, has about 450 company members including traditional pharmaceutical manufacturers of OTC drugs and biotechnological products plus about 150 other members with a business interest in healthcare, such as publishers and polling organizations. The third group is "Pro Generika", founded in 2004 in Berlin. it represents 20 member companies and is the only trade association focusing on generic drugs, which cover 77% of the pharmaceutical needs of the Germany´s statutory health insurance. The former "Deutscher Generikaverband" in Berlin, founded in 1986, dissolved in 2012 due to dwindling membership.
Function
vfa´s focus has been on lobbying, political consulting and public relations on the national and international level. Vfa claims, that with a manufacturer’s share of 50 percent of the retail price, Germany ranks at the bottom in the European comparison. the prescription drug price in Germany consisted of reimbursement to manufacturer, wholesaler, retailing pharmacies and taxes and discounts amounting to 32% of the end price, the highest such rate in Europe per vfa, EFPIA and Pharmaceutical associations of European countries. For the first time in their 22 year history, vfa companies disclosed, how much they paid physicians and other HCW´s, medical organizations and medical facities in June 2016. They sent their data to the "Freiwillige Selbstkontrolle Arzneimittel" which publishes aggregate data together with other non-vfa companies who adhere to voluntary transparency. They planned to continue once a year with data available for 3 years. In 2015, 71.000 physicians received 575 Million Euro and only one third agreed to publication of their name.
Organization
The vfa publishes leading members in their "fotoarchive", with Birgit Fischer as managing director, but no other organizational details like employee figures or operating expenses. vfa´s latest statistics are in a 2015 downloadable publication, which contains mostly general PR.
Members
As of 2010, the vfa represented 43 German pharmaceutical companies and biotech companies with about 80,000 employees. including the following eight largest global pharmaceutical companies with 2014 pharm sales in brackets: Novartis, Pfizer, Sanofi, Roche, Merck, Johnson&Johnson, AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline. Their 2014 sales have decreased due to corporate mergers and patent expiration, according to vfa.In 2015, there were 265 pharmaceuticak companies per The Federal Statistical Office. The vfa members are:
