China’s independently developed anti-COVID-19 drugs have made important progress.
On December 29, the world's top medical journal "The New England Journal of Medicine" published a clinical research result introducing an anti-COVID-19 oral drug VV116 independently developed by Chinese scientists.
According to upstream news reports, the research was led by Ruijin Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine . Compared with PfizerPaxlovid, the clinical recovery time of the VV116 group is shorter and there are fewer safety concerns.
Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and president of Ruijin Hospital Ning Guang said directly that the research results of the paper confirmed that the clinical efficacy of VV116 is no less than that of Paxlovid.
This is exciting news.
The excitement lies not in whether it is domestically produced, but more in the hope of obtaining a large supply, cheaper, and truly effective medicine.
Some people divide medicine into "foreign medicine" and "Chinese medicine". In front of patients, there are only "effective medicines" and "ineffective medicines."
The most important thing about a drug is whether it can cure the disease. This is common sense. Whether it can cure the disease is first of all a scientific question.
In February this year, the State Food and Drug Administration approved the import registration of Pfizer's Paxlovid for the treatment of mild to moderate new coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) in adults with high risk factors for progression to severe disease, such as patients with advanced age, chronic kidney disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, chronic lung disease and other severe high risk factors.
The Food and Drug Administration’s action at least shows that at the national level, Paxlovid is recognized to be effective for some patients.
There are still some people who put science second when looking at the question of whether drugs are effective.
Some people even try to use their own logic, morality to kidnap people who act according to science, thinking that "advocating Pfizer's efficacy is tantamount to betraying the country" and "using Pfizer products is being deceived by capital."
For example, some people say that the person in charge of Pfizer's Shanghai company died of COVID-19. Others use the reason that millions of people in the United States have died from COVID-19 to question the effectiveness of Paxlovid, or they boycott Paxlovid simply because it is an "American drug."
These remarks are either inconsistent with the facts, logically untenable, or purely based on national sentiments. They deliberately ignored that there is a group of elderly people. Without Paxlovid, their mild symptoms may develop into severe symptoms and even face the threat of death.
This is indifference to life and even more ignorance.
Watching the fire from the other side is easy to stand on the moral high ground. When one day the fire burns you, you will feel the pain all over your skin.
The current situation is that Paxlovid is completely in short supply in the Chinese market, and the price is high. Because demand exceeds supply, a number of scalpers have been spawned, further raising prices.
Daily Economic News reported that the official price of Paxlovid is more than 2,000 yuan, but in the underground trading market, some scalpers are quoting tens of thousands of yuan per box. When the original drug cannot be purchased, many people retreat to buy the Indian generic version of Paxlovid. Generic drugs "Green Box" (Primovir) and "Blue Box" (Paxista) are also in short supply.
VV116, which has high hopes, will not reach the hands of ordinary people in the short term. People familiar with the matter said that the results of the phase III trial are not enough to convince regulatory authorities and more data are needed to support it. A marketing application has not yet been submitted.
At this stage, we still need Paxlovid.
COVID-19 is a disease facing the world. In the face of life and health, we should abandon the narrow national view and treat drugs scientifically and rationally.
is not made in China, as long as it is useful. Written by
| Chai Gui
* The article is original and produced by the editor-in-chief and may not be reproduced without authorization.
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