Expensive gene therapies as part of medical care?

In a small question (19/23209), the FDP parliamentary group wanted to know whether innovative but expensive treatment methods, such as gene therapies, should continue to be available to all patients as needed in the future and whether sustainable financing of this innovative treatment option could be guaranteed through pay-for-performance, i.e. success-dependent reimbursement models with the health insurance companies.

The German government (19/23612) responded that novel drug therapies, such as high-priced gene therapies, are likely to become an integral part of medical care. However, the government expects increased approvals in this area due to technological developments in genetic engineering, such as the use of CRISPR-Cas techniques, to have a regulatory effect on the price development of gene therapy.

Competition is supposed to stimulate business and lower prices. It would be nice if this were accompanied by increasing public acceptance of genetic engineering.