US pharmaceutical company Pfizer asked regulators to authorise its Covid pill after it was shown to cut hospitalisation or death by nearly 90% among newly-infected high risk patients.
The move comes a few weeks after Merck also approached the Food and Drug Administration seeking a green light for its antiviral capsule against the coronavirus.
Experts see the oral medications as an invaluable addition to vaccines in the fight to end the pandemic. "With more than five million deaths and countless lives impacted by this devastating disease globally, there is an urgent need for life-saving treatment options," Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said in a statement. "We are moving as quickly as possible in our effort to get this potential treatment into