Government "Monitoring Development Status of Oral COVID-19 Therapeutics"... Securing 36.2 Billion KRW Budget

On the 9th, as the spread of COVID-19 continues mainly in the metropolitan area, citizens are waiting to get tested at the screening clinic of Mapo-gu Public Health Center in Seoul. Photo by Mun Ho-nam munonam@

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The government has expressed its intention to proceed with purchase contracts while reviewing the development status of oral COVID-19 treatments currently under development.

On the 9th, the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) informed the press corps that regarding contracts for oral COVID-19 treatments, "We are monitoring domestic and international development situations and are continuously negotiating with global pharmaceutical companies," adding, "Details of the negotiations are confidential as a principle."

The government has allocated a total of 36.2 billion KRW in budgets for purchasing oral treatments, including 16.8 billion KRW from this year's supplementary budget and 19.4 billion KRW from next year's government budget proposal. Currently, overseas pharmaceutical companies such as MSD (Molnupiravir), Pfizer, and Roche are competing to develop oral COVID-19 treatments.

Jung Tong-ryong, head of the Central Disease Control Headquarters' general coordination team, also stated, "I understand that MSD, Pfizer, and Roche are developing oral treatments overseas," and added, "We are keeping all possibilities open and engaging in negotiations." He further explained, "Discussions are ongoing regarding the quantity to be purchased and budget considerations."

However, Jung refrained from commenting on the actual impact of introducing oral treatments, saying, "It is somewhat premature to predict the epidemic situation after the introduction of oral treatments." He said, "In the past, with influenza, the development of the oral treatment Tamiflu greatly helped in disease control and blocking the spread of the epidemic, so if effective oral treatments for COVID-19 are developed, we expect they could significantly aid in controlling the spread." Nevertheless, he noted, "No oral treatments have been approved yet, and since we need to observe their effectiveness, it is somewhat difficult to predict their immediate impact on the epidemic."