Health Ministry to discuss distribution of new COVID-19 treatments

Taipei, March 6 (CNA) The Ministry of Health and Welfare will meet with experts by the end of March to determine the most suitable recipients for Xocova after receiving an initial batch of 5,000 courses of the new COVID-19 drug.

Tseng Shu-huai (曾淑慧), a ministry spokeswoman, told CNA on Thursday that the ministry has yet to finalize the conditions under which patients should be prescribed Xocova.

Following the meeting, the ministry will revise its guidelines for publicly funded oral antiviral COVID-19 treatments based on expert recommendations, she said.

In 2024, the central government put an order in for enough Xocova to treat 20,000 individuals and received 5,000 in late February.

Manufactured by Japanese pharmaceutical company Shionogi, the drug is the first COVID-19 antiviral oral medication to receive full approval in Japan, according to the company's website.

Patients are required to take the drug once daily for five consecutive days. Clinical trials have shown it to be effective in alleviating mild to moderate symptoms such as fever, sore throat, cough, fatigue and nasal congestion.

According to ministry data, five COVID-19-related deaths and five severe cases were reported between Feb. 25 and March 3. Between Sept. 1, 2024, and March 3, the figures were 111 and 507, respectively.