BEIJING (Reuters) -Merck & Co’s COVID-19 antiviral treatment molnupiravir was priced at 1,500 yuan ($221.21) per bottle in Tianjin, according to the northern Chinese city’s medical purchasing centre on Tuesday.
Each bottle contains 40 pills – enough for one course of treatment – according to the centre. The treatment, which is sold under the brand name Lagevrio, was approved for adults with mild to medium COVID infections and a high risk of progressing to severe cases.
China granted conditional approval for the import of molnupiravir, which was developed by Merck and partner Ridgeback Biotherapeutics. Merck has a deal in place for China’s Sinopharm to import and distribute the medication.
“Supply has been shipped and we are working closely with Sinopharm to distribute Lagevrio as quickly as possible. Both parties are working to ensure Lagevrio is accessible to appropriate adult patients in China,” a Merck spokesperson said in an email. “We have not disclosed a price per course specific to this agreement.”
($1 = 6.7810 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Ella Cao and Meg Shen, Additional reporting by Michael Erman in New Jersey; Editing by Andrew Heavens, Ed Osmond and Mark Porter)
