[Endpoints in clinical trials and their relevance for patients]

Patient participation, which has been established since 2004, has brought more attention to patients' concerns in healthcare. More and more endpoints in clinical trials are defined with respect to their relevance for patients. But this development has still been found wanting. For important drugs, no evidence-based benefit has been demonstrated in the benefit assessment, which also has become possible since 2004. Furthermore, this assessment has arrived too late for patients who have been medicated for a long time. Healthcare policies, applicants and stakeholders have contributed a lot to the patients' scepticism towards benefit assessments, though, in principle, patients are interested in high evidence levels and reasonable pricing. New drugs are often licensed under less ambitious conditions. Whether this is in the patients' interest needs to be put up for a large-scale, and societal, discussion.