(Yicai Global) Nov. 22 -- Shares in Xinxiang Tuoxin Pharmaceutical plummeted by as much as 12.3 percent today after the Chinese active pharmaceutical ingredients maker said it had not been able to supply US pharma giant Merck with the raw materials it ordered for its new oral antiviral medication used in the treatment of Covid-19.

Tuoxin Pharma’s share price [SHE:301089] was trading down 3.17 percent at CNY88.30 (USD14) at 2 p.m. China time. Earlier in the day it had slumped to CNY80.

Tuoxin Pharma has not supplied the nucleoside uridine, a pharmaceutical intermediate, to Merck for use in its Molnupiravir antiviral medication, the Xinxiang, central Henan province-based firm said on Nov. 19.

When Tuoxin Pharma said on Nov. 2 that it was supplying uridine to New Jersey-based Merck, the firm’s stock soared by the exchange imposed limit of 20 percent for five out of the following six trading days. It shares closed at a record high of CNY91.20 on Nov. 12.

Market demand for uridine is small as its production does not have high technical barriers, the firm said. Tuoxin Pharma sold 51.4 tons of the API in the third quarter this year, a drop of 32.7 percent from the same period last year, and accounting for less than 10 percent of the company’s total sales revenue. It can produce 200 tons of uridine a year.

Editor: Kim Taylor