15-07-2025
Japan discards 2.5m doses of expired COVID drugs from Pfizer, Merck
Japan discarded 1.75 million doses of Pfizer's Paxlovid treatment for COVID-19 by November 2024. © Reuters
OSHIRO SEKIGUCHI
TOKYO -- Roughly 2.5 million doses of oral COVID-19 medication bought by the Japanese government during the pandemic expired and were disposed of by the end of February, Nikkei has learned.
About 1.75 million doses of Pfizer's Paxlovid were discarded by November, along with roughly 780,000 doses of Lagevrio from Japanese Merck arm MSD by February, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare reports.
