{"id":33895,"date":"2026-06-10T16:04:17","date_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:04:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/33895\/"},"modified":"2026-06-10T16:04:17","modified_gmt":"2026-06-10T16:04:17","slug":"pfizer-pulls-out-of-summit-with-germanys-merz-over-health-care-reform","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/33895\/","title":{"rendered":"Pfizer pulls out of summit with Germany&#8217;s Merz over health care reform"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>    <img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/ad71a45d24e13afb27400d1988a03c66.jpeg\" alt=\"FILE PHOTO - The logo of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer is displayed at a Pfizer company headquarters. (is associated with: \u00abPfizer pulls out of summit with Germany's Merz over health care reform\u00bb) Christophe Gateau\/dpa\" loading=\"eager\" height=\"532\" width=\"800\" class=\"yf-lglytj  loaded\"\/> FILE PHOTO &#8211; The logo of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer is displayed at a Pfizer company headquarters. (is associated with: \u00abPfizer pulls out of summit with Germany&#8217;s Merz over health care reform\u00bb) Christophe Gateau\/dpa      <\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has pulled out of a meeting with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over plans to reform the health care system, warning that planned investments could be scrapped.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">In a letter to Merz seen by dpa on Wednesday, Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said he would &#8220;not be able to participate&#8221; in the Invest in Germany Summit in October.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The announcement comes after the German Cabinet last month passed a package of measures drafted by Health Minister Nina Warken, including proposals to introduce higher mandatory rebates for pharmaceutical companies, aiming to close a \u20ac16.3 billion ($18.8 billion) gap in government funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Several firms have outlined their opposition to the measure, including Pfizer&#8217;s rival Eli Lilly and Germany&#8217;s Boehringer, with the Bundestag, the German lower house of parliament, set to discuss the plans on Friday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">Pfizer&#8217;s withdrawal from the meeting is a further sign of the sector&#8217;s anger. The company has more than 3,000 employees in Germany.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">&#8220;The government&#8217;s current policy proposals targeting the pharmaceutical sector are altering pricing and market conditions in ways that are making the environment increasingly difficult for sustainable, long-term investment, and are calling into question the predictability required for such decisions in Germany,&#8221; Bourla wrote.<\/p>\n<p class=\"yf-1fy9kyt\">The company is reviewing &#8220;external engagements as well as the timing, scope, and future prioritization of certain planned investments in Germany,&#8221; he said, adding: &#8220;It is increasingly difficult to reconcile the current policy direction with the ambition to position Germany as a globally competitive location for biopharmaceutical innovation.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"FILE PHOTO &#8211; The logo of the pharmaceutical company Pfizer is displayed at a Pfizer company headquarters. (is&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33896,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[31536,5,10218,4206,4207,31537,31538],"class_list":["post-33895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-germany","tag-albert-bourla","tag-germany","tag-health-care-system","tag-merz","tag-pfizer","tag-pharmaceutical-company","tag-pharmaceutical-sector"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/germany\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}