Japan Discards State-Acquired COVID-19 Drugs Worth US$1.6 Billion

TOKYO, July 16 (Bernama-Kyodo)  -- The Japanese government discarded COVID-19 oral medicines believed to be worth around 240 billion yen (US$1.6 billion) in the fiscal year through March as they had passed their expiry dates, Kyodo News Agency reported, citing health ministry officials on Wednesday.

While the exact purchase price remains unclear, the value was calculated in accordance with current prices. The amount is enough to treat some 2.5 million people.

The government acquired the oral drugs at the height of the coronavirus pandemic and provided them free of charge to hospitals and clinics nationwide.

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But many of them were unused after COVID-19 was downgraded to the same category as seasonal influenza in May 2023, which required people to pay for COVID-19 treatment. Drugmakers had also started general distribution of COVID-19 medicine in Japan themselves.

A Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare official said offering the drugs to other countries was considered but legally difficult.

Among the two million doses of Pfizer Inc.'s nirmatrelvir and 1.6 million doses of Merck & Co.'s molnupiravir procured by the government, about 1.75 million doses of nirmatrelvir and some 780,000 doses of molnupiravir were disposed of, according to the ministry.

The government also secured two million doses of Shionogi & Co.'s ensitrelvir but about 1.77 million of them are unused, the ministry said. They are expected to be discarded after they reach their expiration dates starting next fiscal year.

-- BERNAMA-KYODO