Chingguan Yihau (清冠一號), a traditional Chinese medicine to treat COVID-19, will no longer be covered by government subsidies from Saturday next week.
The termination of the subsidies is due to the expiration of the Special Act for Prevention, Relief and Revitalization Measures for Severe Pneumonia with Novel Pathogens (嚴重特殊傳染性肺炎防治及紓困振興特別條例) on Friday next week.
From Saturday next week, the herbal formula developed in Taiwan, also called NRICM101, will only be available to people who obtain a prescription and pay out-of-pocket.
Photo: Taipei Times
As of Monday last week, about 1.71 million people, or 17 percent of people who had contracted COVID-19, had taken Chingguan Yihau subsidized by the government, the Ministry of Health and Welfare’s Department of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy said.
Priced at about NT$1,500 per box, the treatments cost the country about NT$2.5 billion, it said.
Of the 12 pharmaceutical companies that had obtained emergency use authorization (EUA) to manufacture the drug, only Shuntiantang and Tian Yi are willing to apply for a formal pharmaceutical permit once the EUA expires in June next year, the ministry said.
Shuntiantang and Tian Yi are to work separately with Linkou Changgung Memorial Hospital and the China Medical University Affiliated Hospital; and the Department of Chinese Medicine and Pharmacy will offer subsidies of NT$2.5 million to NT$3 million (US$80,853 to US$97,025) to help them in conducting phase 3 clinical trials.
Minister of Health and Welfare Hsueh Jui-yuan (薛瑞元) yesterday said while Chingguan Yihau is considered a supplement overseas, it is a prescription drug in Taiwan.
Purchasing the drug from overseas platforms by unlicensed individuals for resell at a higher price in Taiwan would be in contravention of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act (藥事法), he said.
Meanwhile, former Department of Health minister Yaung Chih-liang (楊志良) said that although the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic is over, people are still contracting the disease.
Whether the government should continue subsidizing treatments is worth discussing, he said, adding: “The government isn’t that short on cash.”
Hsueh said he “was not sure where Yaung was coming from” with his comments, as the legal basis for the funds is coming to a close.
Furthermore, the government’s allotted budget for NRICM101 subsidies has been used up, he said.
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