Health Japan discards government-procured COVID-19 drugs worth ¥240bn

[thomas]

Ouch. There go our taxes.

According to officials from the health ministry on Wednesday, the Japanese government disposed of expired COVID-19 oral medications during the fiscal year ending in March, with an estimated value of approximately ¥240 billion (around $1.6 billion). Although the exact procurement cost remains undisclosed, the figure was based on prevailing market prices. The quantity discarded would have been sufficient to treat roughly 2.5 million individuals. These medications had been stockpiled at the peak of the coronavirus pandemic. They were distributed at no cost to medical institutions nationwide.

A Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare official said offering the drugs to other countries was considered but legally difficult. Among the 2 million doses of Pfizer Inc.'s nirmatrelvir and 1.6 million doses of Merck & Co.'s molnupiravir procured by the government, about 1.75 million doses of nirmatrelvir and some 780,000 doses of molnupiravir were disposed of, according to the ministry. The government also secured 2 million doses of Shionogi & Co.'s ensitrelvir but about 1.77 million of them are unused, the ministry said. They are expected to be discarded after they reach their expiration dates starting next fiscal year.

Japan discards state-acquired COVID-19 drugs worth 240 billion yen - The Mainichi

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- The government discarded COVID-19 oral medicines believed to be worth around 240 billion yen ($1.6 billion) in the fiscal year throug

mainichi.jp

 

[mdchachi]

It would have been a lot more costly if they were actually needed. That is to say, if they had used all the drugs that means there would have been a continuing major health emergency which would have been a lot more costly in the long run.