The Limited Times

Now you can see non-English news...

Covid-19: German doctors prescribe Trump drug en masse

2020-09-25T19:35:43.505Z


US President Trump praised the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine as a savior against Covid-19. Although criticism quickly arose, doctors in Germany also prescribed it in large quantities.


Icon: enlarge

Donald Trump with mouth and nose protection - a rare picture

Photo: Susan Walsh / AP

US President Donald Trump took it, as did Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro.

Now it is clear that the malaria active ingredient hydroxychloroquine, for which the two politicians campaigned in the fight against Covid 19 diseases, has at least temporarily found many supporters in Germany.

This is the result of a preliminary evaluation by the AOK Scientific Institute for SPIEGEL.

In February of this year an estimated 704,000 daily doses of hydroxychloroquine were given, in March it was almost 1.06 million.

This means that the drug was prescribed almost 10,000 more patients than in the previous month, according to the AOK analysis.

The evaluation includes prescriptions by resident doctors at the expense of the statutory health insurance, which was carried out by extrapolating the AOK data.

In April and May the numbers fell again, but remained at a higher level than in the previous year.

In June the values ​​were below the average of the previous year.

Hydroxychloroquine is a drug that is approved for the treatment of various diseases of the rheumatoid type and for the prophylaxis and treatment of malaria.

Its effectiveness against Covid-19 was controversial in the medical world in spring 2020, but propagated by Donald Trump and Jair Bolsonaro.

While there was an "Emergency Use Authorization" - an emergency license - issued by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the treatment of Covid-19 under political pressure in the USA at the end of March, the drug was approved in Europe for the indication of Covid-19. 19 never admitted.

Read more with Spiegel Plus

More perspectives, more understanding.

Your advantages with SPIEGEL +

  • Icon: Check

    DER SPIEGEL as a magazine

    as an app, e-paper and on the e-reader

  • Icon: Check

    All articles on SPIEGEL.de

    Exclusive texts for SPIEGEL + readers

  • Icon: Check

    Try one month for free

    Cancel anytime online

    A price

    only € 19.99 per month

One month for € 0.00

Try now for 0.00 € Buy nowArrow to the right

Already have a digital subscription? Register here

Restore iTunes subscription

SPIEGEL + is processed via your iTunes account and paid for with a purchase confirmation.

24 hours before it expires, the subscription is automatically renewed by one month at the current price of € 19.99.

You can cancel the subscription at any time in the settings of your iTunes account.

To use SPIEGEL + outside of this app, you must link the subscription to a SPIEGEL ID account immediately after purchase.

With the purchase you accept our general terms and conditions and privacy policy.

Source: spiegel

All business articles on 2020-09-25

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest

© Communities 2019 - Privacy

The information on this site is from external sources that are not under our control.
The inclusion of any links does not necessarily imply a recommendation or endorse the views expressed within them.