[서울=뉴스핌] Correspondent Choi Won-jin = In China, where the number of new coronavirus infections (Corona 19) is exploding due to the transition period ‘With Corona’, Pfizer’s oral treatment drug Paxlobid is rare.
This is partly because the Chinese government contracted a lot to begin with, but most of all, it is news that the rich are ‘sweeping’ Pax Rovid.
On the 28th (local time), the Financial Times (FT) said, “Chinese elites are hoarding Paxlobid.
| Paxrovid, an oral treatment for Pfizer’s COVID-19. 2022.10.07 [사진=로이터 뉴스핌] |
Paxlovid is the only foreign COVID-19 drug distributed in China, and the state-owned pharmaceutical company China Pharmaceutical Group (中國库造集团·Sinopharm) is responsible for distribution.
The Chinese government ordered and delivered 21,200 boxes of Paxrovid in March, but it was well below the growing demand.
According to China’s National Health Commission meeting documents obtained by Taiwanese media, 250 million people in China were infected between the 1st and 20th of this month. Hospital emergency rooms are filled with Corona 19 patients, and reports from major foreign media are pouring in that a funeral home in Beijing has formed a long queue of vehicles. Given that there are 160 million people aged 65 and over who are at high risk of dying from infection, it is urgent to supply treatments such as Paxrovid.
However, the Chinese government is passive about additional purchases of Paxrovid. FT reported that the Chinese government only ordered a few hundred thousand boxes after the initial purchase, and even then only to certain administrative regions where major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai are located, making it’ n difficult for locals to even look at Pax. likable
The reason why China does not buy in bulk is because of its own pharmaceutical companies. It is a message that the government supports the local medicine Azvudine and the Chinese medicine Lianhua Qingyuan, which have been approved for conditional use along with Paxlovid. It is unclear whether these drugs actually have therapeutic effects due to insufficient published clinical trial data, the FT explained.
Due to the insufficient supply of Paxrovid, front-line hospitals only give Paxrovid to seriously elderly patients with underlying diseases. Originally, Paxrovid is a drug that should be taken when the infection is mild in the early stages to expect a therapeutic effect.
National health insurance covers Paxlovid prescriptions, but some private hospitals sell the drug for 8,300 yuan (about 1.51 million won) per box, according to the FT. Despite the high price, 300 boxes of Paxlovid were sold out within 24 hours at a private hospital in Beijing.
It is explained that it is mainly rich people who have ‘plenty of pockets’ who buy them. An official from a hospital in Beijing said, “Many of the drugs are prescribed to healthy people.”
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| A worker at a pharmacy in Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, gives free antipyretic and pain reliever ibuprofen to a cardboard box. cnsphoto via REUTERS 2022.12.27 [사진=로이터 뉴스핌] |
The FT said, “Due to limited supply, Paxlovid has become a popular gift in China’s ‘Guanxi’ (關係 · Relations)) society,” and a government official said, “Paxrovid is now a more stylish gift than Maotai. Done,” he said. Maotai is an expensive Chinese spirit popular as a business gift.
An anonymous businessman said he also received two boxes of Paxlovid as a gift this month. He said he knew his friend had obtained it from a hospital establishment which was responsible for high-ranking officers.
The Pax Lovid crisis highlights the social problem of health inequality caused by the gap between the rich and the poor in China. “The accessibility of Paxlovid should not be determined by one person’s power or wealth,” said Jin Dong-yuan, a virologist at the University of Hong Kong.
Since it is difficult to get real Paxlovid, Chinese people are starting to buy generics (generic drugs) from India. According to the Indian think tank Observatory Research Foundation (ORF), you can often see posts on Weibo such as “We sell Indian medicine for 1,000 yuan (180,000 won) per box.”
If imported directly from India, it usually takes 15 to 20 days, and some sellers limit purchases to two boxes per person due to the massive buying frenzy. Although related search terms are blocked on some e-commerce sites, ORF said Chinese people are buying generic drugs on the black market.
wonjc6@newspim.com
