China announces ‘conditional’ approval of Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill

China’s drug regulator said on Saturday it had given “conditional” approval to use the US-based Pfizer’s anti-Covid pill to treat adults with mild to moderate illnesses who may develop severe symptoms. .

The National Medical Devices Administration also requested that more research on the drug be carried out and sent to the entity.

Administered orally, this antiviral treatment is marketed as paxlovid and has been licensed in at least 40 countries, including the United States and Israel. The European Union has allowed its use to member countries while processing their official authorization.

Studies have shown that the drug significantly reduces hospitalizations and deaths in patients at risk of developing a severe form of the disease and likely remains effective against the omicron variant.

Antivirals work by reducing a virus’s ability to replicate, thus containing the disease.

This conditional green light from China comes after several months of a series of outbreaks in the country. The new wave put at risk the Covid zero strategy promoted by Beijing, after controlling the first wave of the pandemic, which emerged in Wuhan.

While far from the infection levels of other countries, China is still dealing with several isolated outbreaks that have brought a southern city to lockdown this week, where cases have soared. In the last 24 hours, there were 40 new patients across the country.

Olympic Games under surveillance

Although these numbers are paltry compared to those recorded in other parts of the world, they lead the government to redouble its vigilance as Beijing celebrates the Winter Olympics until February 20.

All participants are confined in an airtight sanitary bubble, which prevents contact with the rest of the population. So far, China has not authorized any foreign vaccines against the coronavirus. The only ones available in the country are those from local manufacturers.

The immunizers from the public Sinopharm laboratory and the private Sinovac laboratory – using the classic inactivated virus technique – are the most used.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Health, which reported at the end of January a complete vaccination rate (two doses) of more than 90% of the population, 3.03 billion immunizations have already been applied in the country.

However, doubts remain about its effectiveness against the new variants. Sinovac indicated that it intends to develop a specific dose against the omicron.

In late January, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved Pfizer’s paxlovid, the first oral antiviral treatment against the disease authorized in the European Union (EU).

This type of medicine could mark a step towards the end of the pandemic, as it can be taken with a simple glass of water.

Paxlovid is a combination of a new molecule, PF-07321332, with ritonavir, an HIV antiviral, taken as separate pills.

Pfizer claims to have sold $72 million worth of these drugs in 2021.