[Research support and the pharmaceutical industry in Germany].

Improved life expectancy in the industrial world is a consequence of modern drug development and clinical research. Drug development requires long term investments. The costs for drug development increased considerably, because of higher safety and effectiveness standards. New drugs and the improvement of treatment strategies increased the success-rate and, at the same time, reduced the costs. In oncology drug development Germany ranks only second in global competition. Accelerations in the administrative processes of the universities for clinical research are urgently needed to better compete internationally. Furthermore the legal requirements installed in recent years hampered industrial and clinical research. Politics must see to it that Germany does not fall behind other industrial countries even further in the field of drug research and development.