U.S. FDA narrowly backs Merck's COVID-19 pill
A U.S. advisory panel voted to recommend approval of a home treatment for COVID-19 for the first time on Tuesday.
The group narrowly voted 13 to 10 in favor of recommending an antiviral pill made by Merck.
The authorization would likely be limited to patients at high risk.
However, in a Merck study published last week, data showed the pill reduced hospitalizations and deaths by about 30 percent, which is significantly less than previously thought.
The panel is a group of experts that advises the Food and Drug Administration.
The close vote reflect concerns on the panel that the drug could cause the virus to mutate as well as safety concerns about the potential for birth defects.
Still, one member who voted for its approval said, “There is a need for something like this. COVID-19 is still an emergency situation."
Merck’s oral therapy targets part of the virus that has not been changed much by mutations in the new Omicron variant.
The pill could be a more vital treatment, if vaccines and natural immunity are threatened by the variant.
In the meantime, Pfizer’s developed a potentially more promising pill that’s shown a nearly 90 percent reduction in hospitalizations and deaths in its clinical trial.
The FDA could consider that drug within the next few months.
