(Yicai Global) July 8 -- China has authorized the use of Evusheld, AstraZeneca’s preventive Covid-19 drug, in a medical tourism zone in its southern Hainan province, after green-lighting its import a few days earlier. Two hospitals in the zone will be the first in China to sell the antibody cocktail, Yicai Global learned.

Ruijin Hainan Hospital and Boao Super Hospital in Hainan’s Boao Lecheng International Medical Tourism Pilot Zone will each administer Evusheld to more than 10 customers from tomorrow at a cost of CNY13,300 (USD1,985) per two-dose course, they told Yicai Global yesterday. The treatment is not covered by China’s medical insurance program.

Customs officials in Haikou, the provincial capital, have cleared the first batch of the drug, worth CNY22 million (USD3.3 million).

Whether the drug’s high price will fall depends on negotiations, an industry insider told Yicai Global, saying the price is “likely to drop below CNY10,000 in the case of huge purchases, but any decline will be limited.”

Evusheld is a neutralizing antibody cocktail used in people with low immunity that should be effective for six months, though vaccination is still recommended as the best defense against the novel coronavirus. It was approved for sale in the United States late last year and in Europe this March.

According to some online market rumors yesterday, Realcan Pharmaceutical Group was likely to become the China agent for Evusheld. Though Realcan said late yesterday that it had not penned any deal with AstraZeneca, its stock [SHE: 002589] soared by the 10 percent daily trading limit to CNY5.18 (77 US cents) today.

Editor: Dou Shicong, Futura Costaglione