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Paxlovid: drug against severe Covid-19 courses should be ready for use by the end of January

2022-01-02T14:18:18.469Z


A large amount has been ordered, approval should come quickly: Health Minister Karl Lauterbach is confident that the new Covid-19 drug Paxlovid will soon be available in Germany.


Enlarge image

Paxlovid production (handout from Pfizer): "Especially for the treatment of unvaccinated risk patients"

Photo: Uncredited / dpa

With the drug Paxlovid, a new agent for the treatment of severe Covid-19 courses should be able to be used in Germany as early as January.

"I am confident that we will have put together the necessary package by the end of this month, so that we have received deliveries of the drug and obtained emergency approval," said Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach of "Welt am Sonntag".

According to the SPD minister, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices is currently preparing such a national approval for the drug from the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer.

Germany should be able to use paxlovid even before the approval from the European Medicines Agency EMA is still pending.

Almost a week ago Lauterbach had announced the order for one million packs of Paxlovid.

He assumes that this will adequately cover the foreseeable demand.

"The agent is particularly suitable for the treatment of unvaccinated high-risk patients." Shortly before Christmas, the US FDA issued an emergency approval for Paxlovid.

According to the manufacturer, patients take three tablets twice a day for five days.

Paxlovid consists, among other things, of the active ingredient Nirmatrelvir, which inhibits a Sars-CoV-2 protein.

This is to stop the virus from multiplying.

According to information from Pfizer from the beginning of November, the corona pills are very successful in preventing severe disease courses in high-risk patients.

Possible side effects include impaired taste, diarrhea, high blood pressure, and muscle pain. The EU Medicines Agency had also announced that Paxlovid should not be taken by patients with severe kidney or liver dysfunction and, because of interactions, not even in combination with certain other medicinal products. The drug is not recommended for pregnant women.

Drugs like paxlovid are considered by experts to be a pillar of the fight against coronavirus.

Compared to preventive vaccinations, however, they are significantly more expensive and often more complicated to use.

Before they were approved, they were tested in fewer people than the vaccines - which have also been administered billions of times around the world for months and are being monitored in parallel.

The FDA had also stated that the drug was not a substitute for vaccination for the general population.

lov / dpa

Source: spiegel

All news articles on 2022-01-02

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