Federal Minister Spahn has just been busy shopping for 400 million euros.

Artificial antibodies from the companies Ely Lilly and Regeneron are now supposed to protect individual patients with corona infections from worse, at least in university hospitals.

The Federal Ministry of Health does not want to reveal any more details on request.

Only this much: they should be given to the infected early.

Three days after a positive test and a maximum of ten days after the onset of symptoms.

The chairman of the drug commission of the German medical profession, Wolf-Dieter Ludwig, explains why the drugs could still cost the state dearly and why their use, if at all, only makes sense outside of the clinic.

WORLD:

Professor Ludwig, what do you think of the federal health minister's bulk purchase?

Wolf-Dieter Ludwig:

I can understand that in the current situation we are looking for alternatives - after all, we have not yet had any effective medication to offer Covid 19 patients.

I still have my doubts about whether the antibodies that have now been purchased will solve this problem and help the patients better.

WORLD:

Why?

Ludwig:

So far it has only been possible to show that these agents can reduce the number of viruses in the nasopharynx in patients outside the hospital in the early stages.

At a time when no one can say how the disease will develop.

What the manufacturers have not yet been able to prove, however, is that such antibody drugs help infected people in some way later in the disease.

In the only study that has existed so far, the preparation from Eli Lilly neither improved the symptoms of hospital patients nor spared them later complications such as a stay in intensive care units.

And that is exactly what Mr Spahn seems to be planning to do in the hospital.