Munich ruling forms important landmark decision in favor of the pharmaceutical industry
Berlin, April 30, 2026. abante, the largest German law firm specializing in public procurement law, succeeded this week in obtaining the dismissal of an extensive claim for damages brought by a statutory health insurance fund before the Munich Social Court in favour of a pharmaceutical company, which concerned supply shortfalls in a tendered pharmaceutical discount contract. This decision is the first ever ruling on this topic in eight years and can be seen as a leading decision for numerous comparable legal disputes.
Pharmaceutical discount contracts put out to tender in Europe-wide tendering procedures usually include the obligation of the pharmaceutical company to supply the pharmaceuticals covered by the contract to wholesalers and pharmacies. If a delivery failure occurs during the term of the contract, health insurance funds regularly assert claims for damages against the pharmaceutical company in addition to contractual penalties. Whether such claims for damages can be substantiated in terms of reason and amount has been disputed for many years, as have numerous related questions regarding the type of basis for the claim, the requirements for concrete evidence and the calculation of such claims for damages.
With the exception of a single social court decision from 2018, which has not yet become final and binding and which dismissed such a claim for damages by a health insurance company, there is no case law or legislative clarification on this topic, which is of great economic importance to the pharmaceutical industry. The current ruling by the Munich Social Court on April 28, 2026 is therefore the first court decision in eight years to once again deal with the topic of “damages from discount agreements” and once again dismiss a corresponding claim. As tendering practices and the wording of contracts for pharmaceutical discount agreements are constantly evolving, it has been unclear for many years how courts will rule in the event of a dispute. As such disputes about supply disruptions only develop after a discount contract has been awarded, it is not the awarding chambers that decide on this, but the social courts responsible for the legal relationships between statutory health insurance funds and service providers.
abante Managing Director Prof. Dr. Marc Gabriel, who conducted the court proceedings on behalf of the defendant pharmaceutical company, commented on the first-instance trial success: “The recent decision by the Munich Social Court represents an important milestone for comparable damages disputes. This is all the more true as it involved a large number of different active ingredients that had been tendered in the single and multi-partner model and all the legal issues typical of such lawsuits were at issue in these proceedings.” As the judgment was only handed down this week, it can still be appealed to the Bavarian State Social Court.
If you have any questions, please contact Prof. Dr. Marc Gabriel (Management) or Mirjam Schmidt (Press) at gabriel@abante.de and m.schmidt@abante.de
Download the press release: 2026-04-30 PM abante obtains leading decision on damages in discount agreements
