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German public research funder Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) is conducting an audit of the clinical trials it has supported in the past. The audit was announced in response to a request from TranspariMED asking DFG for a list of all its trials completed between 2009 and 2017, to which DFG replied that it currently has no such comprehensive dataset. DFG stated that it is "currently preparing an evaluation of its clinical trials programme. In the framework of this evaluation the data you requested will be collected and analysed, as the outcomes of trials supported by DFG is of high interest including for DFG itself." TranspariMED, an organisation which aims to end evidence distortion in medicine, sees this development as a good opportunity for DFG to check whether and when clinical trials were registered and their results made public. Previous research has shown that nearly a third of German academic trials never make their results public. This not only wastes public money, but also harms patients because it leaves gaps in the evidence base on the efficacy and safety of drugs, medical devices, and non-drug treatments. Due to gaps in German law, there is still no legal obligation to make the results of many German clinical trials public. Read full story Source: TranspariMed, 20 December 2022

Intensive care doctors in Germany have warned that hospital paediatric units in the country are stretched to breaking point in part due to rising cases of respiratory infections among infants. The intensive care association DIVI said the seasonal rise in respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) cases and a shortage of nurses was causing a “catastrophic situation” in hospitals. RSV is a common, highly contagious virus that infects nearly all babies and toddlers by the age of two, some of whom can fall seriously ill. Experts say the easing of coronavirus pandemic restrictions means RSV is affecting a larger number of babies and children, whose immune systems aren’t primed to fend it off. Cases of RSV and other respiratory illnesses have also increased in the UK and in the US, which is also suffering from a shortages of antivirals and antibiotics. In Germany, hospital doctors are having to make difficult decisions about which children to assign to limited intensive care beds. In some cases, children with RSV or other serious conditions are getting transferred to hospitals elsewhere in Germany with spare capacity. “If the forecasts are right, then things will get significantly more acute in the coming days and week,” Sebastian Brenner, head of the paediatric intensive care unit at University Hospital Dresden, told German news channel n-tv. “We see this in France, for example, and in Switzerland. If that happens, then there will be bottlenecks when it comes to treatment.” Others warned that, in certain cases, doctors already were unable to provide the urgent care some children need. “The situation is so precarious that we genuinely have to say children are dying because we can’t treat them any more,” Dr. Michael Sasse, head of paediatric intensive care at Hanover’s MHH University hospital, said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 1 December 2022

Politicians and doctors in Germany have called for urgent action to control the spread of COVID-19 after a record number of cases were reported on 11 November. Germany had 50 196 new confirmed Covid cases on 11 November, up from 39 676 cases on 10 November and 9658 on 1 November, showed figures from the Robert Koch Institute. A total of 235 Covid related deaths were reported on 11 November, up from 23 on 1 November. Speaking in the Bundestag, Germany’s lower house of parliament, the federal vice chancellor, Olaf Scholz, said that immediate steps must be taken to “winterproof” Germany against what is being described as the nation’s fourth wave of Covid-19. Scholz will meet next week with the prime ministers of Germany’s 16 states to discuss new measures to fight the pandemic. “The virus is still with us and threatens the health of citizens,” Scholz said, adding that efforts must be intensified to convince unvaccinated Germans to become fully vaccinated and encourage those already vaccinated to have the booster shot." Everything must be done, he said, to ensure “that millions of citizens get a booster—that is the task of the next weeks and months.” Read full story Source: BMJ, 12 November 2021