Shares of Chinese pharmaceutical companies plunged Tuesday morning on Chinese bourses, continuing a slide that began in the face of competition from Pfizer’s COVID-19 drug Paxlovid earlier this month.
Shares of Shijiazhuang Yiling Pharmaceutical 002603, -8.49%, a traditional-Chinese-medicine producer of COVID-treatment drugs, fell by as much as 9.6%. The company’s share price has fallen 40% from its peak on Dec. 8, when Pfizer’s PFE, +0.37% Covid-19 drug Paxlovid started being widely used in China.
China Meheco Group Co. 600056, -6.21%, the distributor of Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid in China fell by as much as 8.9%, after the company told local media Monday that Paxlovid can only be purchased at hospitals. This limits broader sales of the drug by the company through channels such as e-commerce.
China Meheco signed an agreement to supply Pfizer’s COVID-19 treatment Paxlovid in China in mid-December, as the country has pivoted away from its “zero COVID” policy and allowed a massive outbreak to spread across the country over the past several weeks.