China is not going to embrace Pfizer Inc’s Paxlovid in an replace to its checklist of medicines coated by primary medical insurance coverage schemes because the U.S. agency quoted a excessive worth for the COVID-19 drug, China’s Healthcare Security Administration (NHSA) mentioned Sunday.

The COVID-19 antiviral drug is at the moment coated by the nation’s broad well being care insurance coverage scheme underneath short-term measures the regulator launched in March final yr as outbreaks rose.

But authorities held talks with Pfizer in current days to resolve whether or not to incorporate it within the newest model of their checklist, which they replace yearly.

Inclusion on the checklist means a drug is accessible through state insurance coverage schemes, which can enhance volumes however comes with the situation that producers decrease costs. Past rounds have seen drugmakers minimize costs by as a lot as 62% after negotiations with officers.

“We will continue to collaborate with the Chinese government and all relevant stakeholders to secure an adequate supply of Paxlovid in China. We remain committed to fulfilling the COVID-19 treatment needs of Chinese patients,” Pfizer mentioned in an announcement, with out elaborating.

The NHSA mentioned Paxlovid would proceed to be eligible to be paid for by state medical insurance coverage till the present deliberate end-date to the short-term measures of March 31.

While the talks on Paxlovid failed, they succeeded with two different COVID-19 therapy medicine — natural remedy Qingfei Paidu granules and Chinese drugmaker Genuine Biotech’s Azvudine — which shall be included within the checklist’s replace, the regulator mentioned.

Three years into the pandemic, China started pivoting away from its signature “zero COVID” coverage final month after historic protests of the economically-damaging curbs that had been championed by President Xi Jinping.

The sudden loosening of restrictions has fueled an enormous wave of infections and prompted many to show to underground channels to acquire cures equivalent to Paxlovid, which a scientific trial has discovered to have lowered hospitalizations in high-risk sufferers by round 90%.

Boxes of Paxlovid are altering palms for as a lot as 50,000 yuan ($7,313.15), greater than 20 occasions the unique worth of two,300 yuan, in response to native media stories and social media posts.

Beijing has been largely proof against Western vaccines however has greenlighted international oral therapies Paxlovid and Merck’s Molnupiravir. It permitted Paxlovid in February.

Reuters reported Saturday, citing sources, that China is in talks with Pfizer to safe a license that may permit home drugmakers to fabricate and distribute a generic model of Paxlovid.

Last month, China Meheco Group Co Ltd mentioned Wednesday it signed an settlement with Pfizer to import and distribute Paxlovid in mainland China.

Pfizer additionally signed a deal in August for Chinese drugmaker Zhejiang Huahai to provide Paxlovid in mainland China solely for sufferers there.