A child at an elementary school in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province receives a COVID-19 vaccine on October 26, 2021. Photo: VCG

Chinese firms are making steady progress on the research and development (R&D) of COVID-19 drugs and, once put into use, they would help to expand drug accessibility all over the world, given the country's strong production capacity and generosity in contributing to the global anti-pandemic fight, experts said.

The comments came after a COVID-19 drug produced by US-based Pfizer was reportedly able to cut hospitalization and death rates among high-risk patients. 

Pfizer announced on Friday that its new drug named Paxlovid could cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent after clinical trials of patients who took the pills within three days after they exhibited symptoms.

Paxlovid was the second antiviral pill to demonstrate high efficacy against COVID-19, after the British medicine agency on Monday authorized Molnupiravir, the first oral antiviral drug developed by US-based pharmaceutical company Merck. 

Merck said that Molnupiravir reduced by half the risk of hospitalization and death among high-risk COVID-19 patients in the clinical trial.

The news supported the shares of Pfizer, which rose 10.9 percent on Friday. 

In terms of safety and effectiveness, Paxlovid has been shown to be better than Molnupiravir, but one problem is that Pfizer probably will sell Paxlovid at a high price to make it difficult for developing regions to acquire, given what it did with its mRNA vaccine, warned Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based immunologist.

Accessibility matters more than the effectiveness itself of vaccines and drugs when it comes to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhuang said, referring to the huge gap in vaccination rates between developed and developing countries. 

This is where China can play a vital role, given its strong production capacity and generosity in helping developing countries to enhance their own medical and production capacity, Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, told the Global Times on Sunday.

China National Biotec Group, a subsidiary of Sinopharm, said its drug based on a specific immune globulin has been approved by medical regulators in China and the United Arab Emirates and is under clinical trials. 

Brii Biosciences, a company that has dual headquarters in China and the US, has applied to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody combination therapy BRII-196/BRII-198, which can reduce the rate of hospitalization and death by 78 percent among high-risk COVID-19 patients.

Kintor, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, announced last week that it had finished dosing the first patients with its small-molecule compound drug Pukru amine at a US clinical center. Previously, another COVID-19 drug based on neutralizing antibodies was authorized for emergency use in 15 countries and regions. 

Luye Pharma Group said LY-CovMab, an innovative antibody developed by Boan Biotech, a holding subsidiary of the group, has made great progress in R&D. The drug has gone into phase II clinical trials in China and many overseas countries and regions. 

Despite the arrival of a new antiviral drug that can dramatically reduce hospitalization and death rates, experts said that vaccines are still the most effective way to fight COVID-19 and cannot be displaced by drugs.

Tao said that the market should not be overly optimistic about the oral antiviral drugs. 

"Vaccination and supporting treatments remain the major ways to fight COVID-19, while oral drugs are just 'the icing on the cake' at present," said Tao.

Oral antiviral drugs like Paxlovid and Molnupiravir cannot take the place of COVID-19 vaccines, for vaccination is the best way to prevent and control almost any kind of communicable disease, said Zhuang Shilihe, the Guangzhou-based immunologist.

Zhuang said that even if antiviral drugs come out, it's still necessary to promote vaccination and booster vaccination because drugs alone can't lower infection risk or strengthen herd immunity.

As of Sunday, more than 2.3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the Chinese mainland. As of October 29, about 3.53 million doses had been administered to children aged three to 11, Chinese health authority announced on Sunday.

A child at an elementary school in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province receives a COVID-19 vaccine on October 26, 2021. Photo: VCG

Chinese firms are making steady progress on the research and development (R&D) of COVID-19 drugs and, once put into use, they would help to expand drug accessibility all over the world, given the country's strong production capacity and generosity in contributing to the global anti-pandemic fight, experts said.

The comments came after a COVID-19 drug produced by US-based Pfizer was reportedly able to cut hospitalization and death rates among high-risk patients. 

Pfizer announced on Friday that its new drug named Paxlovid could cut the risk of hospitalization or death by 89 percent after clinical trials of patients who took the pills within three days after they exhibited symptoms.

Paxlovid was the second antiviral pill to demonstrate high efficacy against COVID-19, after the British medicine agency on Monday authorized Molnupiravir, the first oral antiviral drug developed by US-based pharmaceutical company Merck. 

Merck said that Molnupiravir reduced by half the risk of hospitalization and death among high-risk COVID-19 patients in the clinical trial.

The news supported the shares of Pfizer, which rose 10.9 percent on Friday. 

In terms of safety and effectiveness, Paxlovid has been shown to be better than Molnupiravir, but one problem is that Pfizer probably will sell Paxlovid at a high price to make it difficult for developing regions to acquire, given what it did with its mRNA vaccine, warned Zhuang Shilihe, a Guangzhou-based immunologist.

Accessibility matters more than the effectiveness itself of vaccines and drugs when it comes to fighting the COVID-19 pandemic, Zhuang said, referring to the huge gap in vaccination rates between developed and developing countries. 

This is where China can play a vital role, given its strong production capacity and generosity in helping developing countries to enhance their own medical and production capacity, Tao Lina, a Shanghai-based vaccine expert, told the Global Times on Sunday.

China National Biotec Group, a subsidiary of Sinopharm, said its drug based on a specific immune globulin has been approved by medical regulators in China and the United Arab Emirates and is under clinical trials. 

Brii Biosciences, a company that has dual headquarters in China and the US, has applied to the US Food and Drug Administration for emergency use authorization for SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing monoclonal antibody combination therapy BRII-196/BRII-198, which can reduce the rate of hospitalization and death by 78 percent among high-risk COVID-19 patients.

Kintor, a clinical-stage biotechnology company, announced last week that it had finished dosing the first patients with its small-molecule compound drug Pukru amine at a US clinical center. Previously, another COVID-19 drug based on neutralizing antibodies was authorized for emergency use in 15 countries and regions. 

Luye Pharma Group said LY-CovMab, an innovative antibody developed by Boan Biotech, a holding subsidiary of the group, has made great progress in R&D. The drug has gone into phase II clinical trials in China and many overseas countries and regions. 

Despite the arrival of a new antiviral drug that can dramatically reduce hospitalization and death rates, experts said that vaccines are still the most effective way to fight COVID-19 and cannot be displaced by drugs.

Tao said that the market should not be overly optimistic about the oral antiviral drugs. 

"Vaccination and supporting treatments remain the major ways to fight COVID-19, while oral drugs are just 'the icing on the cake' at present," said Tao.

Oral antiviral drugs like Paxlovid and Molnupiravir cannot take the place of COVID-19 vaccines, for vaccination is the best way to prevent and control almost any kind of communicable disease, said Zhuang Shilihe, the Guangzhou-based immunologist.

Zhuang said that even if antiviral drugs come out, it's still necessary to promote vaccination and booster vaccination because drugs alone can't lower infection risk or strengthen herd immunity.

As of Sunday, more than 2.3 billion doses of COVID-19 vaccines had been administered in the Chinese mainland. As of October 29, about 3.53 million doses had been administered to children aged three to 11, Chinese health authority announced on Sunday.