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Coronavirus China
ChinaPolitics

Coronavirus: Merck drug could be available in China by end of next week, Sinopharm says

  • State-owned drug maker says ‘hundreds of thousands’ of boxes of molnupiravir have arrived and more are being imported
  • The antiviral treatment has been approved for emergency use but still needs to be registered with the Chinese regulator

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Merck’s Covid-19 antiviral treatment molnupiravir could hit the market in China by the Lunar New Year. Photo: TNS
Zhenzhen Liu
China has imported “hundreds of thousands” of boxes of Merck’s Covid-19 antiviral treatment molnupiravir and they could be available by the end of next week, a senior executive with Sinopharm Group said.
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The oral drug will be sold under the brand name Lagevrio at a cost of 1,500 yuan (US$220) for 40 pills, Tianjin’s medical purchasing centre said in a statement on Tuesday.

The announcement came after China’s national health insurance authority on Sunday said Pfizer’s antiviral treatment for Covid-19, Paxlovid, had not made it onto the public health scheme because the price – at 1,890 yuan a box – was “too high”.
Pfizer said locally produced Paxlovid pills would be available in the next few months.

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Medics work while hooked up to IV drips during Covid-19 surge in China

Medics work while hooked up to IV drips during Covid-19 surge in China

Molnupiravir has been approved for emergency use in mainland China by the National Medical Products Administration, to treat mild to moderate infections among adults at high risk of severe illness. It is also included in the country’s latest Covid-19 treatment plan.

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State-owned drug maker Sinopharm reached a deal with Merck in September that gives it the exclusive right to import and market the pill. The two pharmaceutical firms also agreed to evaluate the possibility of a technology transfer that could facilitate production and commercialisation of the drug by Sinopharm subsidiary China National Biotec Group.

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