Shionogi Covid pill Xocova fails to win Japan panel backing

Jul 21 (theedgemarkets.com) - Shionogi's experimental Covid-19 treatment Xocova failed to win the backing of health experts in Japan who said there wasn’t enough data to show the medicine’s efficacy.

The panel members didn’t recommend that Japan’s health ministry authorise emergency use of the therapy as there was a need to continue discussion on it, Hiroshi Kiyota, chairman of the expert committee said in a briefing Wednesday. The health ministry relies on the panel’s decision to give the approval.

Shionogi plummeted as much as 10% in Tokyo trading, the biggest intraday drop since June 23, while shares of Shionogi’s South Korean partner, Il Dong Pharmaceutical Co, fell as much as 30% in Seoul.

Japan so far has two pills to fight coronavirus and Shionogi’s therapy was seeking to be the third option. Approval for Shionogi’s medicine was keenly watched as it is easier to take than the two currently available drugs from US drugmakers. A course of Shionogi treatment consists of seven pills over five days — significantly fewer than Pfizer Inc’s Paxlovid and Merck & Co’s Lagevrio, which require between 30 pills and 40 pills over the same time period.

Source: ANNnewsCH

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