shares of chinese pharmaceutical companies plunged tuesday morning on chinese bourses continuing a slide that began in the face of competition from pfizers covid19 drug paxlovid earlier this month shares of shijiazhuang yiling pharmaceutical a traditionalchinesemedicine producer of covidtreatment drugs fell by as much as 96 the companys share price has fallen 40 from its peak on dec 8 when pfizers covid19 drug paxlovid started being widely used in china china meheco group co the distributor of pfizers covid19 treatment paxlovid in china fell by as much as 89 after the company told local media monday that paxlovid can only be purchased at hospitals this limits broader sales of the drug by the company through channels such as ecommerce china meheco signed an agreement to supply pfizers covid19 treatment paxlovid in china in middecember as the country has pivoted away from its zero covid policy and allowed a massive outbreak to spread across the country over the past several weeks shijiazhuang yiling shares were last down 85 at cny3224 while china meheco shares were down 62 at cny1887