Roche freezes German investment plans but spares Penzberg expansion

Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche has put all future investment decisions in Germany on hold, citing government cost-cutting measures in healthcare, BR reported. The company said its already approved expansion in Penzberg, Bavaria, would not be affected.

Roche Germany chief Daniel Steiners told the Welt newspaper that recent policy had “destroyed a great deal of trust” in the pharmaceutical sector. He called for reliable conditions for investment and criticised the government’s planned law to stabilise statutory health insurance contributions, saying it imposed short-term savings and additional costs on industry instead of addressing structural problems.

Steiners said a planned clause to reduce manufacturers’ rebates for pharmaceutical companies that conduct research and production in Germany could only partly offset the law’s effects. He called for a broader strategy and said Europe should learn from US efforts to make investment more attractive.

The announcement comes as Chancellor Friedrich Merz promotes Germany to businesses at an investor summit in Berlin. Roche employs more than 18,000 people in Germany.

Other pharmaceutical companies have also scaled back or reconsidered investments. US company Eli Lilly said over the summer that it would halve planned investment of 2.5 billion euros in Rhineland-Palatinate. Boehringer Ingelheim cancelled planned spending of 900 million euros, while Pfizer has also reviewed investments in Germany.

The industry has criticised the government for planning tougher cost-saving measures despite pledging to strengthen Germany’s pharmaceutical sector. The companies have objected in particular to an increase in the manufacturers’ rebate paid to health insurers.

Economy Minister Katherina Reiche said the contribution-stabilisation law would burden the research-intensive pharmaceutical industry. The government is working on changes to the manufacturers’ rebate, she said, so companies investing in research, development and clinical trials in Germany would pay lower rebates.

Siemens chief executive Roland Busch said Roche’s decision was understandable if investment conditions in Germany were inadequate, and called for policy changes. The statutory health insurers disputed the industry’s concerns. Stefanie Stoff-Ahnis, deputy head of the National Association of Statutory Health Insurance Funds, said the pharmaceutical industry earns very well in Germany and would continue to do so under the current legislation.