Status: 15.01.2024, 11:35 a.m.
By: Amy Walker
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According to a new investigation, several pharmacies in Germany are said to have illegally enriched themselves with the Corona drug Paxlovid. It's probably about fraud in the millions.
Berlin – Several pharmacies throughout Germany are suspected of having massively defrauded the state and thus the taxpayers. According to research by Süddeutsche Zeitung, WDR and NDR, several pharmacies are said to have illegally sold the Corona drug Paxlovid abroad - and thus made large profits. This is because Paxlovid was handed over to pharmacies free of charge by the state so that they could also hand it out to patients free of charge. Instead, according to the research, some branches sensed an opportunity to make a lot of money.
Paxlovid: To buy in China for 2000 euros per pack
According to the research network, there have already been raids on such cases, one of them took place in Bavaria, another in Berlin. A pharmacy in Frankfurt am Main is also suspected of having enriched itself criminally. During the raid in Bavaria, large sums of cash were also found.
The drug Paxlovid is intended to help people who have tested positive for Corona and belong to a risk group. The drug is designed to relieve symptoms and significantly minimize the risk of a severe course. In order to bring Paxlovid to Corona patients as unbureaucratically as possible, the Federal Ministry of Health has made the drug available free of charge. This should also allow pharmacies to hand over Paxlovid to patients free of charge. GP practices were also able to hand out the tablets themselves.
But as SZ, NDR and WDR further report, some pharmacies have not given the drug to patients in this country, but instead offered it on the international market, where it can be sold for a lot of money. According to Reuters news agency, people in China have paid up to 2000 euros for a pack of Paxlovid.
Million-dollar fraud with Paxlovid: Extent still unclear
According to the Ministry of Health, a total of 560,000 packs of Paxlovid have been handed over to German pharmacies. But at some point it became noticeable that some pharmacies order a lot of the drug - while others seemed to be able to cope with very few packages. According to the research team, a pharmacy in Frankfurt had ordered 10,000 packs of Paxlovid. However, the demand for Paxlovid has never been particularly high.
Several pharmacies have been searched by the public prosecutor's office. © Monika Skolimowska/dpa
At that point, at the latest, the suspicion in the ministry is said to have grown that something is wrong. And indeed: In Baden-Baden, charges were brought against a pharmacy for embezzlement of taxpayers' money and illicit trade. In Berlin, a pharmacist has filed a self-disclosure, and the public prosecutor's office there assumes fraud cases amounting to three million euros in all proceedings. In Nuremberg, too, the investigators speak of fraud in the millions.
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It is still unclear exactly how many cases are involved. This is because not all public prosecutors' offices have yet finished their investigations, nor do they want to go public until firm results are available. But the scale alone shows that a lot of money is at stake – from taxpayers.