China health app starts online sales of Pfizer's Paxlovid for COVID treatment

BEIJING (Reuters) -A Chinese healthcare platform has started selling Pfizer's oral COVID treatment pill Paxlovid in what appears to be the first retail sale of the drug in the country, as China braces for a surge in COVID patients.

Healthcare company 111.inc has started selling Paxlovid for 2,980 yuan ($426.80) per box, the sales page on the app showed on Tuesday.

People can purchase the medication on the app if they submit a positive COVID-19 test result.

Chinese media Yicai reported in March that Paxlovid, which was approved by China in February, has been used to treat high-risk patients in hospitals in at least eight provinces.

($1 = 6.9822 Chinese yuan renminbi)

(Reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Kim Coghill)