In the Horizons scan, the Healthcare Institute writes that it already has more signals in 2025 evergreening has reported to the Netherlands Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) than in previous years. That evergreening means that the manufacturer adjusts a medicine in such a way that the agent stays under patent for longer. Consider, for example, a new form of administration of the drug: instead of an infusion, a syringe. Or instead of a pill.
Unnecessarily high healthcare costs
Mark Janssen, chairman of the board of the Healthcare Institute: “Manufacturers switch off competition with Evergreening.” And that is problematic, according to Janssen: “It leads to unnecessarily high healthcare costs. As a result, we pay too much for existing medicines, while this money can also be used for new medicines or other care.”
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The horizons scan gives an overview of innovative, often expensive, medicines that will be offered for the Dutch market in the coming two years. It shows that there are many medicines and indication extensions (where a means for multiple diseases can be used) for the treatment of cancer. It concerns 137 new medicines and 139 indication extensions.
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Combination treatment
Finally, what is striking in the horizons scan is an increase of 60% of treatments with combinations of medicines. These combination treatments are increasingly used to achieve the greatest possible effectiveness for the patient. In 2023, the combination treatments were 15% of all new medicines, now it is 24% of the total. Because it concerns combinations of multiple medicines, the costs of such treatments are also higher.