The COVID-19 outbreak in China is rapidly deteriorating. Pfizer’s new drug is ‘hard to find’. The price of scalpers is tens of thousands of yuan (the same as below) per pack, and the price of Indian generics is also 2,500 yuan per box.
“Daily Economic News” reported that Zhang Jing’s (pseudonym) grandmother was infected with the new crown virus and was hospitalized for a week and is currently showing symptoms of pneumonia. After Zhang Jing learned of Paxlovid, Pfizer’s new oral crown drug, he bought it through various channels: first a box of the Indian generic drug Paxlovid for 2,380 yuan, and later a box of the original research drug for 2,640 yuan on a pharmaceutical company electronic business platform.
However, she still hasn’t decided whether to give her grandmother Paxlovid because she missed the prime time to take the medicine. Jin Dongyan, a professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Biomedical Sciences, said mild and asymptomatic patients do not need to take oral new crown drugs, and oral new crown drugs must compete with the virus for Se patients take the medicine too late, the therapeutic effect will be impaired.
Zhang Jing is a graduate student who returned to her hometown in a prefecture-level city in Shandong Province in early December. She didn’t know when she became “positive”: Two days after the antigen became negative, on December 20, her grandmother developed a fever and her body temperature reached 39 degrees. Her grandmother had underlying illnesses and her family rushed her to a local hospital. After being hospitalized, Grandma’s condition is still not optimistic, she sometimes becomes confused and she starts having a low fever in the afternoon of every day. “For the family, this is a great test and a tough battle,” said Zhang Jing.
Under the circumstances that Paxlovid is “hard to find”, the price of Paxlovid in the clandestine trading market has skyrocketed, and a box of scalpers has quoted tens of thousands of yuan. A Shanghai resident said she bought a box of the original research drug Paxlovid from a scalper some time ago, and the price was 9,500 yuan. Some scalpers even claimed that the original drug was in short supply, so they offered a price of 15,000 yuan per box.
When the original drug cannot be bought, many people turn to the Indian generic drug Paxlovid. A drug purchasing agent said they have two Paxlovid generics, the “green box” (Primovir) and the “blue box” (Paxista). The “green box” was 2,500 yuan and the “blue box” was 2,700 yuan. , it will take three to seven days for your payment to be shipped. The purchasing officer said, “As soon as the spot goods arrive in China, they shine immediately.”
Another purchasing agent also said that there is no stock in stock and only accepts pre-orders, and can only pre-order the “green box”, the price is 1,900 yuan. In his WeChat circle of friends, he sends a message about the price increase of the “blue box” almost every day. He said, “The blue box is made by a big factory and the green box is made by a small factory. There’s no difference actually.”
More reports from Juheng
•The epidemic spreads in China, the original drugs are hard to find, people buy generic drugs of the new Indian crown
