Human antiviral becomes a solution to save cats in China

Cat owners in China turn to human Covid-19 antivirals to save their pets from the disease

Antivirals against Covid-19 from Merck & Co. are gaining a new use in post-pandemic China, as cat owners are using them as antidotes to a fatal disease caused by a coronavirus that infects their feline companions.

People are administering Merck’s Lagevrio to treat Feline Infectious Peritonitis (FIP), a fatal disease that until recently had no readily available treatment, the local news portal reported this week Jimian.

The practice has become a hot topic on social media, with tens of thousands of cat lovers on Xiaohongshu, China’s version of Instagram, discussing how the medications have saved their pets and also saved them on expensive veterinary bills.

“Covid-19 medicines made for humans saved my cat’s life,” wrote one user on Xiaohongshu. “I share my notes here to teach more people how to save their fur babies and reduce the suffering of cats.”

In addition to foreign antivirals, some pet owners have also opted for similar but cheaper medications developed by local companies such as Henan Genuine Biotech Co., Simcere Pharmaceutical Group Ltd. and Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co.

Merck did not immediately respond to Bloomberg’s emailed request for comment.

The use of Covid-19 drugs by pet owners in China stands in stark contrast to the early days of the pandemic, when the U.S. use of ivermectin — a medicine to treat worms in animals — prompted the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). USA) to issue the warning: “You are not a horse. You are not a cow. Stop it.”

Feline Infectious Peritonitis is a viral disease caused by the so-called feline coronavirus, which infects white blood cells before spreading throughout the cat’s body, causing inflammatory reactions. Without treatment, the disease is fatal. FIP is exclusive to cats and is not contagious to people, dogs or other animals.

Until recently, there was no specific treatment available. Some antivirals have been shown to be effective, but they are not widely accessible. The most popular, GS-441524, developed by Gilead Sciences, has not been approved by the FDA, and cat owners often turn to the black market to obtain the drug.

In China, cat owners must rely on informal networks to purchase GS-441524, which often costs tens of thousands of yuan. On Chinese social media, many people complain that the medicine is too expensive and that black market sellers often provide fake versions.

Human antivirals against Covid are much more affordable, owners say. A bottle of 40 Lagevrio tablets, for example, costs about 1,725 ​​yuan ($236) online, which is enough to treat more than one cat. In addition to medicines, Chinese cat owners also feed their pets with nutritional supplements developed for humans, because they are cheaper than veterinary products.

“I don’t understand why pet medicine is so expensive,” wrote one user on Xiaohongshu. “You only need to adjust the dosage of human medications if you are going to use them in cats.”

With information from Bloomberg*