Pfizer working to send COVID pill Paxlovid to China – CNBC

(Reuters) – Pfizer Inc is working with Chinese authorities to send its COVID-19 pill, Paxlovid, to the country that is dealing with a surge in COVID-19 cases, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in an interview with CNBC on Monday.

In February last year, China approved Paxlovid to treat high-risk patients in several provinces. The drug was supposed to be largely available via hospitals.

Pfizer has also reached an agreement to export Paxlovid to China through a local company to make the medicine more widely available.

“We are sending as much Paxlovid as we can, our manufacturing machines are working to be able to supply at this stage,” Bourla said in the interview at the J.P Morgan Healthcare Conference.

Pfizer immediately did not respond to a Reuters request for comment on quantities.

China has also been in talks with the drugmaker to secure a license that will allow domestic drugmakers to manufacture and distribute a generic version of Paxlovid in China, Reuters reported last week, citing sources.

Chinese hospitals have been under intense pressure after the government abruptly abandoned its “zero-COVID” policy last month, sending infections soaring.

(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)