An online pharmacy lists Pfizer’s oral anti-Covid drug Paxlovid for 2,980 yuan a pack in Suqian, Jiangsu province, China, December 13, 2022.
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Pfizer is not in talks with Chinese authorities to license a generic version of its Covid-19 treatment Paxlovid for use there, but is in talks about a price for the branded product, Chief Executive Albert Bourla said on Monday.
Portal reported Friday that China is in talks with Pfizer to secure a license that would allow domestic drugmakers to manufacture and distribute a generic version of the US firm’s Covid-19 antiviral drug Paxlovid in China.
Referring to that report, Bourla said at JPMorgan’s health conference in San Francisco, “We are not in discussions. We already have an agreement to manufacture Paxlovid locally in China. So we have a local partner who’s going to make Paxlovid for us, and then we’re going to sell it in the Chinese market.”
Bourla said the company shipped thousands of treatment cycles to China in 2022, increasing that number to millions in recent weeks.
On Sunday, China’s Health Security Administration (NHSA) said the country would not include Paxlovid in an update to its list of drugs covered by basic health insurance schemes because the US company said the Covid-19 drug had a high price tag.
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Bourla said talks with China on future pricing for the treatment were stalled after China asked for a lower price than Pfizer charges for most lower-middle-income countries.
“They’re the second highest economy in the world and I don’t think they should pay less than El Salvador,” Bourla said.
Still, Bourla said the delisting would have no impact on the company’s operations there until April. He said the company has shipped millions of courses of the drug to China in recent weeks.
The company could ultimately only sell to the private market in China, he said.
