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Dan Ma, Johanna Zapf & Karen Piontek

E-Prescription for Germany – An Exciting Opportunity to Transform Healthcare and Forge New Partnerships

Germany’s e-prescription (eRx) has moved from policy vision to everyday practice—streamlining workflows, reducing errors, and opening new digital touchpoints across patients, pharmacies, and pharma. With CardLink–enabled redemption and multi-channel fulfillment, eRx is shifting care delivery and commercial strategy toward a connected, patient-centric system.

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The eRx is on its way to become a cornerstone of digital healthcare in Germany.

Mandatory eRx compresses administration, curbs duplicate prescribing, and makes journeys more transparent—from repeat scripts to click-and-collect or home delivery. CardLink now enables end-to-end digital redemption via the health card, accelerating mainstream use: by February 2025, more than 650 million prescriptions had been redeemed, with roughly 80% issued electronically. As eRx integrates with the electronic patient record and unified digital identities, it becomes the backbone for value-adding services, real-world evidence, and platform partnerships among pharma, payers, and pharmacies.

When Prescriptions Go Fully Digital:
How Care Flows—and Business Models—Change

What you’ll learn

How eRx reduces GP visits, automates billing, and improves drug safety through digital medication management
Why CardLink, multi-channel redemption, and better UX are pivotal to mainstream adoption
What integration with ePA and digital identities unlocks for seamless authentication and safety checks
Where new partnerships emerge across e-commerce, pharmacy platforms, and pharma patient-support ecosystems
Which real-world evidence becomes possible from prescription, refill, and adherence data—and how AI can amplify it

Dan is the Head of Strategic Partnership at Sanofi, where she leads efforts to increase vaccination rates in Germany and Austria through innovative ecosystem collaborations. Before joining Sanofi, she held senior commercial roles at Sandoz across multiple business units and founded the Sandoz Innovation Lab (SIL) in 2022 to accelerate digital health innovation. Dan began her career as a strategy consultant at Bain & Company, focusing on healthcare and private equity. She holds a Master of Science in Molecular Medicine from Imperial College London and is passionate about transforming healthcare through partnerships and innovation.

About the Author
Dan Ma

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As Manager Innovation & New Commercial Partnerships at Sandoz, Johanna identifies, develops, and executes strategic initiatives to drive business growth through innovative solutions and partnerships. A holistic view of health policy and its implications for stakeholders as well as topics such as AI and data access are her specialty. Johanna holds a diploma in Politics, Economics, and Business.

About the Author
Johanna Zapf

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As a Principal at Flying Health, Karen Piontek supports healthcare stakeholders in preparing for the future of the healthcare system. A special focus is on the topics of digitization and AI, sustainability, and demography. Previously, she worked in the Life Sciences Division of Simon-Kucher & Partners to develop pricing and market access strategies for innovative products of international pharmaceutical and MedTech companies.