China’s Hainan, Henan, and Xinjiang Begin Sales of First China-Made Covid Pill for USD80
Lin Zhiyin
DATE:  Aug 12 2022
/ SOURCE:  Yicai
China’s Hainan, Henan, and Xinjiang Begin Sales of First China-Made Covid Pill for USD80 China’s Hainan, Henan, and Xinjiang Begin Sales of First China-Made Covid Pill for USD80

(Yicai Global) Aug. 12 -- China’s Hainan and Henan provinces and Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region have begun selling the first domestically-made Covid-19 oral drug at CNY540 (USD80) for a 14-day course of treatment.

Azvudine has been used in Hainan, Henan, and Xinjiang in response to local government demand, Fosun Pharmaceutical Group, the drug giant that secured the exclusive rights to market the drug, said in a statement yesterday.

A bottle of 35 tablets, one milligram per pill, is on sale for CNY270, according to the websites of national medical insurers. A two-weeks course costs up to CNY540.

The drug, which was granted conditional approval by the National Medical Products Administration to treat adults with mild Covid-19 symptoms at the end of July, was added by the National Health Commission to the country’s latest Diagnosis and Treatment Protocol for Covid-19 on Aug. 9.

Developed by Genuine Biotech, Azvudine can improve patients’ moderate symptoms in a short period of time and inhibit the virus, clinical tests showed. It generally works well on recipients and does not have risks.

Some Covid-19 patients taking Paxlovid, another Covid oral drug made by Pfizer, have been reported to test positive for a second time. No consensus has been reached yet on the reason. Some in the industry think it is because of the virus’ characteristics, while others believe patients did not take the drug for long enough.

Paxlovid is an active 3-chymotrypsin-like protease inhibitor. Azvudine, instead, inhibits RNA-dependent RNA polymerase. It remains to be seen if patients taking Azvudine will retest positive.

Editors: Shi Yi, Futura Costaglione

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Keywords:   Covid-19,Hainan,Xinjiang