China Orders Suspension of Sales of Oral COVID-19 Treatment 'Azvudine'

"Indiscriminate Distribution Without Doctor's Prescription"

Atsupu distributed in the Chinese market / Photo by Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Noh Kyung-jo] China has decided to halt the sales of Azvudine (阿玆夫·Azvudine), an orally administered COVID-19 treatment developed domestically.

According to local media Jiyil Caijing on the 19th, the China Food and Drug Administration ordered a suspension of retail sales of Azvudine due to its indiscriminate distribution in the market.

Azvudine was jointly developed by Zhens Bio (Zhens Bio) and Zhengzhou University, and received conditional approval from Chinese health authorities before being marketed in August. The authorities restricted its use to adult COVID-19 patients with a doctor's prescription, allowing a maximum 14-day course.

However, reports indicate that Azvudine is being sold not only in Beijing pharmacies but also on online platforms, making it easily accessible to anyone. The market price for one bottle containing 35 tablets of 1 mg each ranges from 350 to 500 yuan (approximately 66,000 to 94,000 KRW).

Along with the sales suspension, authorities instructed that records of already distributed drugs be reported. Zhens Bio also requested frontline pharmacies to remove Azvudine from their sales shelves, and the pharmacy chain Haiwang Xing Tian notified its affiliated pharmacies to recall the drug.

Jiyil Caijing observed that COVID-19 treatment hospitals rarely use this drug, and the actual demand is expected to be lower than Zhens Bio's production capacity of 3 billion tablets annually.