Jan 9 (Reuters) – Pfizer (PFE.N) is not in talks with Chinese authorities about licensing a generic version of its COVID-19 drug Paxlovid for use in China, but it has declined the price of branded products. are discussing, Albert Bourra said on Monday.
Reuters said on Friday that China is in talks with Pfizer to secure a license to allow domestic drugmakers to manufacture and sell a generic version of the US company’s COVID-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid in China. It was reported that there
Speaking at JP Morgan’s healthcare conference in San Francisco, Bourla referred to the report, saying, “We’re not discussing it. We’ve already agreed to local manufacturing of Paxlovid in China. So we have a local partner who manufactures Paxlovid for us and then we sell it to the Chinese market.”
Pfizer has a license agreement with the United Nations-backed Medicines Patent Pool (MPP) to allow 35 pharmaceutical companies around the world to manufacture cheaper versions of Paxlovid to provide treatment to 95 poor countries. doing.
The license does not allow the sale of generic Paxlovid in China, where infections have surged since December, creating severe shortages of flu and COVID medicines.
According to local media reports and social media posts, a box of Paxlovid used for one treatment is trading for 50,000 yuan ($7,313), compared to an original price of around 2,000 yuan.
Bourla said the company will ship thousands of treatment courses to China in 2022, increasing to millions in the past two weeks.
On Sunday, China’s National Health Safety Administration (NHSA) said the country included Paxlovid in an update to the list of drugs covered by the basic health insurance system after US companies offered high prices for COVID-19 drugs. said no.
The drug is now covered by China’s broader medical insurance scheme under a temporary measure until the end of March.
Bora said negotiations with China on future pricing for the treatment had broken down because China demanded lower prices than Pfizer is charging low- and middle-income countries.
“They are the second largest economy in the world and I don’t think they should pay less than El Salvador,” Bourra said.
The failure to include Pfizer on the list of drugs covered by the national health insurance sparked a heated debate on Chinese social media on Monday.
Some Chinese media reported that Pfizer had lowered the price of Pax Lobid to 600 yuan in negotiations, sparking a wave of criticism and questions on social media about why Chinese regulators did not accept the price.
A separate report in financial magazine Caixin on Monday, citing unnamed sources, said Pfizer had not significantly cut prices beyond the 1,890 yuan it currently charges hospitals in China.
Pfizer declined to comment on Chinese media reports about the price it offered during negotiations. The NHSA did not immediately respond to a request by Reuters for comment on the negotiations.
China’s state media, the Global Times, in an opinion piece on Monday accused Pfizer of trying to profit from China’s fight against COVID.
“It’s no secret that the U.S. capital power has already amassed considerable wealth from the world through the sale of vaccines and medicines, and that the U.S. government has been coordinating all along. There are no so-called human rights, but there are monopolies,” it said. rice field. .
“If they care[what’s happening in China]why don’t Pfizer stop chasing profit and work with China a little more honestly?”
Bourla said the delisting wouldn’t affect the company’s business until April, which could eventually be sold only to the Chinese private market.
Pfizer in August signed a deal with Chinese pharmaceutical company Zhejiang Huahai (600521.SS) to manufacture paxlovid exclusively for patients in mainland China.
Bourla said production in China is progressing well and could be able to start production in the first half of this year, earlier than its internal forecasts at the end of the year.
Reporting by Michael Erman in New York, Brenda Goh in Shanghai and Sophie Yu in Beijing. Edited by Miyoung Kim, Muralikumar Anantharaman, Raju Gopalakrishnan
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