Even if Federal Health Minister Lauterbach relied on Paxlovid for his corona infection and US President Joe Biden took it – the number of prescriptions in this country remains low. Hundreds of thousands of packs expire in winter.
Due to low demand, hundreds of thousands of packs of the corona drug Paxlovid are threatened in Germany. This emerges from a response from the Federal Ministry of Health to a parliamentary question by the CSU health politician Stephan Pilsinger, which is available to the editorial network Germany. According to Health Secretary Edgar Franke, 460,000 of the one million packs ordered have so far been delivered to wholesalers. “Of these, 280,000 will reach their expiry date by February 2023,” the reply continues. A possible extension of the drug’s shelf life is being examined, writes SPD politician Franke.
“The fact that Paxlovid doses for millions of euros are now threatening to expire shows that Karl Lauterbach has not learned anything,” said Pilsinger, referring to the destruction of at least four million corona vaccine doses that has already taken place. He spoke of a pure waste of money. “Before this valuable drug expires unused, it would be better to give it away to poorer countries,” he said.
The drug from the US pharmaceutical company Pfizer is intended to help prevent severe corona courses. According to estimates, however, it has only been prescribed around 30,000 times in Germany. Federal Health Minister Karl Lauterbach, who is convinced of the effectiveness of the drug, has therefore been trying for some time to increase the number of prescriptions. For example, he wants to allow doctors to dispense medicines directly to patients – which is usually the monopoly of pharmacies.
(This article was first published on Monday, August 15, 2022.)
