At the end of last month, the first domestically-made small-molecule oral drug for COVID-19, Azvudine Tablets, which was just approved in China, has begun to be used.
On the evening of August 11, Fosun Pharma (600196.SH; 02196.HK) announced that it cooperated with Real Bio to respond to the needs of local governments and urgently deployed Azvudine tablets to help fight the epidemic in many places across the country. Hainan, Xinjiang and other places.
At present, the price of Azvudine tablets has been clarified, and the price of the drug has a great advantage compared with the currently marketed new crown treatment drugs.
It is shown that according to the price of medical insurance in various places, Azvudine tablets are priced at 270 yuan per bottle, 35 tablets per bottle, and 1 mg per tablet.
During the treatment of the novel coronavirus, Azvudine tablets are approved for the treatment of adult patients with common novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19).
The dosage is to swallow the whole tablet on an empty stomach, 5 mg each time, once a day, and the course of treatment should not exceed 14 days.
If you take it for a maximum of 14 days, a course of treatment costs about 540 yuan at most.
On August 9, the General Office of the National Health and Health Commission and the Office of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine issued a notice stating that according to the State Food and Drug Administration’s conditional approval of the application for the registration of azvudine tablets for the treatment of new coronavirus pneumonia, it is necessary to further The antiviral treatment plan for novel coronavirus pneumonia has been improved. After research, the drug has been included in the "Diagnosis and Treatment Plan for Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (Ninth Edition)."
The pivotal Phase III registration clinical trial supporting Azvudine Tablets as a new crown drug listing application shows that the drug can significantly shorten the symptom improvement time of patients with moderate new coronavirus infection pneumonia, increase the proportion of patients with improved clinical symptoms, and achieve clinical superiority. result.
In terms of inhibiting the effect of the new coronavirus, it can also inhibit the activity of the new coronavirus.
In addition, in terms of safety, the drug was generally well tolerated, and the incidence of adverse events was not statistically different between the azvudine group and the placebo group, and did not increase the risk of subjects.
However, in real-world applications, the efficacy of the drug against the new coronavirus remains to be further verified.
It is worth mentioning that Pfizer’s Paxlovid, another new crown oral drug that has been approved in the world, has repeatedly been reported to have a recovery after taking it.
The market is still arguing about the cause of Fuyang, and there is no unified view. Some think it is caused by the characteristics of the virus, and some think it is related to the insufficient treatment course.
Different from Pfizer's Paxlovid, which is a 3CL protease inhibitor, and Azvudine, which is an RdRp inhibitor, it remains to be seen whether the latter will have a return to positive condition.
Author: Lin Zhiyin