Staatliche Maßnahmen zur Erhaltung einer flächendeckenden Arzneimittelversorgung

In past years, German pharmaceutical law has repeatedly been the subject of jurisdiction by the supreme court. It was especially shaken to its very foundations by a decision of the European Court of Justice in 2016, which dealt with the price maintenance for those drugs only available on prescription. The author considers the compliance of price maintenance with European constitutional law and the European constitutional parameters for a reintroduction of a needs test/a territorial restriction and a prohibition of shipping drugs only available on description. In the course of this paper, the charged relationship between keeping an extensive supply of drugs that serves public health on the one hand and warranties given by the domestic market based on European law on the other hand repeatedly comes to the fore.