Lauterbach has been promoting the drug for weeks.
(Photo: IMAGO/Political Moments)
Berlin A tablet against Covid-19? It sounds promising, but so far it has hardly been prescribed. The federal government bought one million packs of the corona drug Paxlovid at the end of 2021. Only 43,000 have been delivered to pharmacies so far.
The Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach (SPD) now wants to change that. The tablets from the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer are to become a second pillar of the fight against the pandemic in addition to vaccination. As a first measure, general practitioners can now have the drug in stock in their practice and give it directly to corona patients, Lauterbach told the “Spiegel”.
The detour via the pharmacies would no longer be necessary. A prescription should also be remunerated with 15 euros. In addition to a vaccination officer, every nursing home should also appoint a Paxlovid officer who will take care of everything organizational.
Also in nursing homes should in future be allowed to store a supply of the drug so that it can be used quickly. So far, however, German general practitioners have been reluctant to prescribe the drug.
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Lauterbach has been promoting the drug for weeks. At the beginning of August he wrote on Twitter: “With the 4th vaccination plus Paxlovid in the event of illness, almost all deaths in the elderly can be avoided.” When he fell ill with Corona, he wrote that he was taking Paxlovid to avoid complications.
The drug has been conditionally approved in the EU since the end of January. A few weeks later, doctors in Germany were able to prescribe it. In an interview with the Handelsblatt, General Practitioner President Ulrich Weigeldt called the fact that practices now have the option of dispensing the drug directly a “major step forward for the care of corona risk patients.”
Paxlovid must be taken very early in the illness, after five days at the latest. With the new regulation, they “received the medication without unnecessary delay in case of doubt”.
He explains the reluctance to prescribe it by saying that Paxlovid has not been available for that long. “Because this is a relatively new drug, experience with the drug has of course been limited so far. That is gradually changing,” said Weigeldt.
Paxlovid: Covid relapse in rare cases
Overall, Paxlovid is a “highly effective drug” that significantly reduces mortality when used properly. When prescribing, the patient’s age, previous illnesses, vaccination status and other medications are a criterion. However, the pill is “not a substitute for vaccination,” warns the General Practitioner President.
>> Read here: Cabinet decides Corona plan for autumn – what should change from October
Paxlovid aims to stop the virus from multiplying in the body. A study published in “The New England Journal of Medicine” had shown that treatment with the active ingredients led to an 89 percent lower risk of a severe course of Covid 19 compared to a dummy drug.
In rare cases, a so-called “Covid rebound” can occur, so that the disease returns a few days later after treatment with the drug. This was observed, among other things, with US President Joe Biden, who fell ill with Corona about a month ago and was treated with Paxlovid.
After six days, the 79-year-old ended his corona isolation as a result of a negative test. Then, a few days later, a test was positive again for the first time, and several such results followed. President Doctor O’Connor had spoken of a “relapse” that was observed in patients treated with Paxlovid in rare cases. The phenomenon has been known for months.
Peak exceeded in serious illnesses
Meanwhile, the ebbing of the omicron wave this summer is now also reflected in the severe corona diseases. “These data consistently show that the peak of the current wave has passed, even in the case of severe illnesses,” says the weekly report of the Robert Koch Institute (RKI) on Thursday evening.
Paxlovid aims to stop the virus from multiplying in the body.
(Photo: AP)
The authors describe declining trends in the number of patients with Covid-19 in German intensive care units and in Covid-19 diagnoses. “Despite the overall further decline in the number of cases, the infection pressure in the general population remains high in all age groups,” warns the RKI.
Despite the improved operating situation in recent weeks, the burden on the health system remains high. A high number of hospital admissions, Covid 19 intensive care patients and deaths are expected to continue in the coming weeks.
With agency material.
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