Pfizer Inc. is working with a partner in China to make the Covid-19 drug Paxlovid available there starting in the first half of the year, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a presentation.
(Bloomberg) — Pfizer Inc. is working with a partner in China to make the Covid-19 drug Paxlovid available there starting in the first half of the year, Chief Executive Officer Albert Bourla said in a presentation.
The partner hasn’t started production but will soon, Bourla said Monday at the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, without naming the company. He also shot down a Reuters report from last week that said companies are working to make generic versions available in China.
While Bourla didn’t name Pfizer’s partner, the company last year entered a deal with Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical Co. to produce Paxlovid ingredients. Huahai said Tuesday it is actively cooperating with Pfizer to push ahead a Paxlovid “localization program” to enable adequate supply in China and meet treatment demand.
The Chinese drugmaker’s stock surged as much as 9.8% on Tuesday, the most in nearly two weeks.
Chinese health officials are working to combat a rampant outbreak of Covid after easing restrictions designed to curb the spread of the virus. Talks between the country and Pfizer to negotiate a lower price for Paxlovid and get it covered under state insurance haven’t panned out, the health authority there said Sunday.
Bourla said the Chinese government wanted a lower price than what middle-income countries pay, and Pfizer didn’t agree.
“They are the second-biggest economy in the world and I don’t think that they should pay less than El Salvador, which is a poor country,” he said.
Pfizer brought in millions of doses to China during the last weeks of December and the first days of January as demand rose, he said.
–With assistance from Dong Lyu, Phila Siu and Michelle Fay Cortez.
(Updates to add Bourla comments in the last three paragraphs)
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