China clears Pfizer’s COVID pill
Paxlovid, Pfizer’s COVID pill, is the first oral treatment to receive conditional approval in China. That doesn’t mean a shift away from COVID zero.
China has granted “conditional” approval to Pfizer’s COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, China’s pharmaceutical regulator (NMPA) announced on Friday. The drug is the first oral pill developed to treat the virus that has been cleared by regulators.
- The move may “lay the groundwork” to loosen up China’s strict COVID containment measures, said Zēng Guāng 曾光, a former chief epidemiologist at the Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention who advised Beijing on COVID control, per Bloomberg.
- “China won’t self-isolate from the rest of the world and has various measures at its disposal to change tack,” Zeng said. “Strategizing precedes action.”
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It’s unclear whether the order includes producing Paxlovid in China. The NMPA said “further research” had to be done, and did not specify any details on what Pfizer has to provide before releasing the product into the Chinese market.
- Chongqing-based Porton Pharma Solutions announced it received a $681 million contract with Pfizer, although “no direct connection was made with the COVID-19 pill,” Yicai reports.
- Pfizer has said its global supply of Paxlovid in 2022 is just 120 million courses — not nearly enough to fulfill Chinese treatment needs, per Bloomberg.
But the move is unlikely to spur any substantial shift in China’s COVID-zero strategy. “Widespread adoption and usage of a foreign drug will only be achieved if the government includes it in China’s reimbursable insurance program and purchases the drug in bulk through centralized mechanisms,” per Trivium.
- Demand for the drug is low. China has kept the daily number of new COVID-19 patients with confirmed symptoms to below 250 in the past year, per Reuters. China has also vaccinated 87.1% of its population with several domestically developed shots.
- The move also doesn’t guarantee market share for the drug. Pfizer will still have to compete with homegrown COVID-19 treatments.
See also:
- Why the world needs China’s COVID-zero policy / Bloomberg
- China’s next step on COVID, as estimated by Chairman Rabbit / Pekingnology
