Paxlovid will not join China's updated medical reimbursement list

Pfizer's COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid will not be added to China's updated medical reimbursement list because the company asked for a very high price during the latest round of price negotiations that wrapped up on Sunday, the National Healthcare Security Administration said on Sunday.

However, drugmakers of two other COVID-19 therapies — the homegrown Azvudine and the Qingfei paidu granule, a widely used traditional Chinese medicine to ease COVID-19 symptoms — have successfully struck a deal during the negotiation, said the administration.

With the two additions, the administration said that the medical reimbursement list will contain more than 600 types of drugs that have been proven to alleviate fevers, coughing and other COVID-19 symptoms.

Local healthcare security authorities have also included a number of COVID-19 drugs to their temporary reimbursement lists based on the capacity of local funds.

Although the highly-anticipated inclusion of Paxlovid was not achieved, the administration said that all COVID-19 drugs listed in the latest version of COVID-19 treatment protocol, including Paxlovid and Merck's Molnupiravir, will be reimbursed through to March 31.

"We have a rich variety of reimbursable drugs used to treat COVID-19," it said.