China Approves Pfizer's Paxlovid To Be A Cure For COVID-19

JAKARTA - China's drug regulatory agency gave conditional approval for the use of Paxlovid, a drug made by Pfizer to treat COVID-19 patients. Paxlovid thus became the first anti-COVID-19 pill approved in China to treat the disease.

The National Medical Products Agency said Paxlovid had conditional approval to treat adults with mild-to-moderate COVID-19 infection and who are at high risk of developing a severe condition.

Further studies on the drug need to be conducted and submitted to authorities, the agency said.

It is not clear whether China is in talks with Pfizer over the pill's purchase. Pfizer has not yet responded to a Reuters request for comment.

The approval is a boost for Pfizer, which expects $22 billion in revenue in 2022 sales from the treatment.

Pfizer officials said the company was in intense talks with more than 100 countries regarding the procurement of Paxlovid, and already had the capacity to provide as many as 120 million dose packages if needed.

While a number of vaccines are available around the world to help prevent serious infections and illness, including those produced by Pfizer, treatment for people with COVID-19 remains limited.

Quoted from ANTARA, February 12, Pfizer said in December last year that final trial results showed that, in people with severe COVID-19, the treatment could 89 percent reduce the chances of a patient being hospitalized or dying if the drug was given within three days of symptoms appearing.

And if given within five days of symptoms appearing, the patient's chances of being hospitalized or dying could be reduced by 88 percent.

The United States paid about $530 for each packet of Paxlovid doses and about $700 for each packet of the COVID-19 pill molnupiravir, which was developed by Merck & Co.

China has not approved any vaccines developed by foreign manufacturers but has allowed the use of some domestically developed vaccines.