Fight Covid-19 with antibody drugs: This plan is now worth 400 million euros to the Federal Republic.
But the funds are not yet approved - and do not help everyone.
Corona is currently causing
several sources of fire again
.
On the one hand, there is the whole subject of the home office obligation * and the FFP2 mask regulation, then the increasingly escalating vaccination dispute between the EU and AstraZeneca ensures one headline after the other and finally an
increasingly heated debate
about the Opening of schools and daycare centers led.
Is a new source of fire looming now?
In any case, the federal government bought 200,000 doses of two different
antibody drugs
for 400 million euros
.
These are intended to reduce the risk of a severe course of corona disease.
But the drugs are
not yet approved
in the EU
and do not help everyone
.
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Treating Covid-19 with antibody drug: What is Trump's "miracle drug"?
The drugs ordered by Health Minister Jens Spahn are so-called antibody drugs.
The
monoclonal antibodies
contained in the drug are
intended to prevent the coronavirus from penetrating human cells - hence the name of the drug.
They
reduce the risk of a severe course
by lowering the general number of viruses in the patient's body, writes the
Tagesschau
.
The names of the drugs are REGN-COV2 and Bamlavinimab.
The former comes from the US company Regeneron, the latter was developed by the US pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
In the United States, the drug
has been used since an emergency approval
, including
ex-US President Donald Trump was treated with it
and praised it as a "miracle drug".
It is currently difficult to predict when the antibody treatment will be approved in the EU - the drugs are not yet being tested, but an
application for approval should be submitted soon
.
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+
Are the antibody drugs an important step in the fight against the coronavirus?
© IMAGO / MiS
Who is the drug suitable for and what side effects are known?
It gets a
bit complicated with
the prayer for the antibody medication
.
It should not be given to people who are in hospital and / or who are ventilated.
In principle, the antibody drugs are intended for people aged
twelve and over
who are at high risk of a severe course of Covid-19.
Previous studies have shown that the drugs performed best in patients whose bodies have not yet made antibodies against the virus.
In these groups, REGN-COV2 and Bamlavinimab are
also to be used in Germany
.
The Robert Koch Institute, among others, has found, after initial studies, that the drugs are "promising therapeutic options".
Not much is known about the side effects.
At least so far, there have hardly been any serious side effects,
but certain risks may simply not yet be known.
According to Tagesschau, the FDA advises that there is a
certain potential for severe hypersensitivity reactions
.
The drugs are initially delivered to various German university hospitals, including the
Munich hospital on the right of the Isar waiting for the antibody drug to be delivered.
Overall, experts warn against expecting too much from antibody therapy, but rate the data on the drugs as promising and consider it possible that they could be
another important component in combating the pandemic
.
(fh)
*
Merkur.de is part of the nationwide Ippen-Digital editorial network
.
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Article sources: tagesschau.de, spiegel.de
List of rubric lists: © IMAGO / photonews.at
