Drugmakers will not be exempt from cost cuts, says German health minister

BERLIN, June 12 (Reuters) - Drugmakers will not be exempted from cost-cutting measures, Germany's health minister said, after some companies warned they may be unable to launch innovative medicines in Europe unless governments agree to pay more than they historically have.

"Every sector must play its part in this reform," Health Minister Nina Warken was quoted as saying by the Funke newspaper group on Friday.

• Proposed legislation in Germany will cap rapidly growing costs in the statutory health insurance system.

• Warken, a member of Chancellor Friedrich Merz's conservatives, says she realises that many pharmaceutical companies are under pressure, and the planned legislation is not going to bring them any extra revenue.

• But "Germany remains an attractive location for the pharmaceutical industry – thanks to reimbursement under the statutory health insurance scheme, and the opportunities available here for clinical trials and the development of new medicines," Warken was quoted as saying.

• Exempting the industry from the proposed legislation was out of the question, the minister added.

• "Compared to other European countries, we have the fastest access to innovative medicines in Germany," Warken said.

• U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly and its German peer Boehringer Ingelheim have announced they would slash planned investments in the EU's most populous country, citing the government policy proposals.

• Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, in a letter to Merz, has said the U.S. company is reviewing the timing and scope of investments in Germany.

(Reporting by Thomas Seythal, additional reporting by Andreas Rinke; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)