Oral COVID-19 Treatment 'Paxlovid' Delayed in Domestic Import but...

Arrival delayed to tomorrow due to adverse weather in the US
Over 20,000 doses remain in stock due to low prescription rates

On the morning of the 14th, at a designated pharmacy in Guro-gu, Seoul, the oral COVID-19 treatment 'Paxlovid,' which arrived in Korea the previous day, was delivered, and a pharmacy staff member is checking the quantity. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Although the domestic import of oral COVID-19 treatments is facing delays, it is understood that the remaining stock is sufficient.

According to the Central Disease Control Headquarters on the 31st, the arrival date of 11,000 doses of Pfizer's Paxlovid (active ingredients nirmatrelvir and ritonavir), originally scheduled to arrive at Incheon International Airport on the morning of the 30th, has been postponed again to February 1st.

Previously, authorities announced that additional supplies of Paxlovid were expected to arrive in the country on the 30th. However, the flight arrival was first delayed to around 2:20 PM on the 31st and then postponed again to around 9:40 AM on the following day, the 1st. Regarding the delay in Paxlovid's arrival, a Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters official explained, "Most flights were canceled due to heavy snowfall in the northeastern United States."

Paxlovid began to be prescribed in earnest from the 14th, a day after the initial shipment of 21,000 doses was imported on the afternoon of the 13th. At that time, the government expected more than 1,000 people to be treated daily, but actual administration was sluggish, with only 109 patients prescribed the drug over about a week until the 20th. Although the prescription target was mainly high-risk groups such as those aged 65 or older or immunocompromised individuals, there were 23 ingredients that should not be taken together with Paxlovid only in Korea, and many patients in high-risk groups had underlying conditions such as angina, hyperlipidemia, and arrhythmia, which limited prescriptions.

Accordingly, from the 22nd, the authorities lowered the age criterion for administration from 65 to 60 to expand the target population and extended the prescription target to include long-term care hospitals and infectious disease-dedicated long-term care hospitals. Although the number of patients receiving the drug increased somewhat afterward, only 506 patients were prescribed Paxlovid over about two weeks until the 27th, leaving more than 20,000 doses of the treatment unused. From the 29th, Paxlovid prescriptions were also allowed for inpatients at infectious disease-dedicated hospitals.

Meanwhile, the Korean government has secured a total of 1,004,000 doses of oral treatments so far, including 762,000 doses of Pfizer's Paxlovid and 242,000 doses of Merck & Company (MSD)'s Molnupiravir.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.