China's Homegrown Virus Pill Could Offer a Pivot From Covid Zero

Where will newly developed Covid pills be needed the most? Rather than pandemic hot spots, it’ll be a place where the virus has yet to gain a sustained foothold: China. That’s the take from Tong Youzhi, chief executive officer at Kintor Pharmaceutical Ltd., a Chinese company working on just such a product. After successfully containing the virus with mass testing, surveillance and rigid border curbs, China is now uniquely vulnerable to the novel pathogen and needs access to effective treatments if outbreaks worsen. “China is a virgin land for the virus, with so few people exposed,” Tong said in an interview with Bloomberg News. “The urgency for effective Covid drugs is no less in China than elsewhere if we want to regain our pre-pandemic life.”