Pfizer says locally produced Covid pills may be available in China within the next few months

The drug maker has not yet reached a deal to provide Paxlovid through the country’s public health scheme due to a disagreement over pricing
However, the company is working with a local partner to produce the drug, which will be available privately, in China

Coronavirus China

Zhuang Pinghuiin Beijing

Published: 8:32pm, 10 Jan 2023

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China will have locally produced Pfizer Covid pills within the next few months, but the company is not in talks with the authorities to license generic drugs, according to the company’s chief executive.

Albert Bourla also told the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference that the anti-viral medication Paxlovid would not be available via China’s public health scheme because the price China was offering was less than the company would accept from a “middle-income country”.

The drug is currently covered by public health insurance until March 31 under a temporary arrangement for 1,890 yuan (just under US$280) a packet. Placing it on the register of drugs covered by basic medical insurance would have made it more affordable for patients.

Bourla said the company has tiered pricing schemes for high-income countries, lower prices for middle-income countries and offers drugs at cost price to low-income countries, but the price China was offering was too low.

“[China] wanted lower than the lowest of the middle… They are the second biggest economy in the world. And I don’t think that they should pay less than El Salvador, which is a poor country.”

On Sunday China’s National Health Security Administration said that the company’s quotation was too high.

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The company is continuing discussions while it is also looking to make locally produced Paxlovid available via the private market. Bourla said it should be ready sometime in the first half of the year, adding that it would not be a surprise if it was ready within three or four months.

Huahai Pharmaceutical, Pfizer’s partner in China and one of China’s biggest makers of pharmaceutical ingredients and generic drugs, told the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s website: “The company is currently working with Pfizer to accelerate the local production of Paxlovid to ensure adequate supply of Paxlovid in the Chinese market and continue to meet the demand for Covid-19 patients.”

Huahai secured a deal with Pfizer in August to produce and sell Paxlovid in mainland China for five years. Pfizer will provide the ingredients to make nirmatrelvir, the antiviral portion of the drug, and ritonavir, an anti-retroviral. Huahai will manufacture and combine the two to make Paxlovid.

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China approved Paxlovid to treat high-risk patients in February last year, but it was only distributed in some provinces and not widely available in hospitals.

The demand for the drug skyrocketed after China abruptly dropped its zero-Covid policies last month.

Some batches that were just days before expiry date were quickly snapped up when they were put on sale online. Generic versions of the drug from India are also proving popular.

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Bourla said the company was trying to increase the supply of Paxlovid to China and had provided millions of doses in recent days.

However, he rejected a report from Reuters last week that the company was in talks with China’s drug regulator to license generic versions of the drugs before the Lunar New Year, which falls on January 21.