In Prague, on 7 November 2019
Innovative treatment, including modern medical procedures, has a major impact on the health of the population, extends patients’ lifespan and improves the quality of patients’ life. Furthermore, the activities of innovative pharmaceutical companies contribute to the growth of the gross domestic product and support employment. Through a wide range of activities, these companies are helping to relieve the budgets of hospitals and health insurance companies. The unique study “Innovation for Life” maps the impact of innovative treatment on patients and the Czech Republic’s health and social system and economy.
Innovative treatment and modern medicinal products bring significant benefits and added value in three main areas: economic benefits (added value of innovative pharmaceutical companies in the Czech Republic), demographic benefits (added value of innovative therapies and medicinal products for demographic development) and social benefits (added socio-financial value thanks to improved quality of patients’ life).
“More Czech patients will soon receive modern personalized treatment. However, medicinal products cannot be seen as a one-off expense, but rather as an investment. The real view of the whole spectrum of costs is crucial, not only in the area of healthcare, but especially in the area of social budget or pension insurance. We should be discussing this matter because we are in a transition period and the Czech healthcare system will undergo major changes,” says Mgr. Jakub Dvořáček, MHA, executive director of the Association of Innovative Pharmaceutical Industry (AIFP).
Economic benefits
“The economic impact of the innovative pharmaceutical industry significantly increased between the years 2010 and 2018 in terms of both contribution to the GDP and employment. With its activities and investments, the innovative pharmaceutical industry generates a turnover of 42 billion Czech Crowns with a relatively high multiplication effect,” said Ing. Miroslav Zámečník, a macroeconomist and a former member of the National Economic Council of the Government (NERV). The contribution of the innovative pharmaceutical industry is comparable to that of information technology, the production of chemicals and telecommunications.
“Innovative activities also have an impact on other stakeholders, such as hospitals, health insurance companies and the State Institute for Drug Control,” says Jakub Dvořáček. Actual costs, discounts and support measures of innovative pharmaceutical companies represent an important complementary source of their financing.
The innovative pharmaceutical industry also creates about 14.5 thousand jobs and more jobs are being created. Of these, more than 7,000 are direct jobs and another 7,000 are indirect jobs. The range of suppliers of AIFP member companies is also expanding; thanks to cooperation, they can finance their activities and pay their employees in transport, marketing or IT.
Demographic benefits
From a demographic point of view, modern treatment has contributed to prolonging and improving the quality of life. Personalized treatment has significantly increased life expectancy in recent years. The number of years of saved life in just five therapeutic areas (multiple sclerosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, type 2 diabetes mellitus, breast cancer and prostate cancer) amounted to more than 27,000 years between 2012-2014 and 2015-2017.
“Multiple sclerosis is one of the examples. Early treatment leads to a slower progression of the disease. In recent years, patients, together with their physicians, have been able to actively decide about the type of treatment. This reduces the need for hospitalization and outpatient care. Almost all diagnoses show an increase in the number of hospitalizations up to 1 week and almost all diagnoses in this category show more than 50% of hospitalizations,” said prof. RNDr. Ladislav Dušek, Ph.D., director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the Czech Republic.
Social benefits
Thanks to fewer and shorter hospitalizations, the number of patients able to return to the labor market has increased. People are more productive and create a higher value.
“Just on shorter hospitalizations and a lower number of disability pensions due to multiple sclerosis, the state has saved at least 560 million Czech Crowns during the years 2010–2017. The study discovered similar savings in other areas of treatment as well. We must be able to calculate the impact of innovative treatment; it represents rather large sums,” says Jakub Dvořáček. Additional savings resulting from a lower need for disability pensions and shorter hospitalizations in the nine analyzed therapeutic areas amount to nearly 5 billion Czech Crowns.
However, overall savings are probably higher because the presented calculation does not take into account all factors, such as savings associated with medicinal products used during hospitalization or savings resulting from family members’ higher productivity.
In conclusion
The study “Innovation for Life” shows that innovative medicinal products have a major impact on the demographic, social and economic area. It shows that innovative medicinal products represent an added value for both patients and the social and health system in the Czech Republic.
“If all parameters, including legislation, are well set up and the effects of personalized treatment are regularly monitored, then the budget will be able to handle the entry of innovative treatment into the Czech healthcare system, patients will receive new medicinal products on time and the pharmaceutical industry will generate additional economic benefits,” concludes Jakub Dvořáček.
MORE ABOUT THE STUDY
Therapeutic areas analyzed in the study “Innovation for Life”
The study “Innovation for Life” focused on 9 therapeutic areas that illustrate the development and progress of innovative treatment with a quantifiable impact. Selected diseases were defined based on precisely given criteria. These are mostly areas with relatively high morbidity, prevalence and incidence in the Czech Republic (see below):
- Type 2 diabetes mellitus;
- Prostate cancer;
- Breast cancer;
- Colon and rectal cancer;
- Chronic myeloid leukemia;
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease;
- Rheumatoid arthritis;
- Multiple sclerosis;
- Idiopathic intestinal inflammations.
Respected experts and valid data
The co-author of the study is the consulting company EY. In addition, the following experts worked on the study:
– Ing. Miroslav Zámečník, economist and publicist, support and validation of economic impact calculation;
– prof. RNDr. Ladislav Dušek, Ph.D., director of the Institute of Health Information and Statistics of the CR, calculation and validation of the demographic impact;
– Rut Bízková, former chair of the Technology Agency of the CR, support and validation of innovative challenges and opportunities;
– AIFP member companies, provision of data and statistics.
The calculations contained in the document are limited by data availability. The document is based on the NZIS (National Health Information System) database, CSSA (Czech Social Security Administration) data, AIFP’s internal data and publicly available data. More information is available at www.inovaceprozivot.cz.
(Note: Calculations of savings are indicative and should not be considered final results. The purpose of the document is not to verify the data provided.)
For more information, please contact:
Markéta Kolanová
PR manager
e-mail: marketa.kolanova@aifp.cz
phone: +420 734 623 626
