Taiwanese hospitals may soon begin offering pills to treat COVID-19. That comes as Health Minister Chen Shih-chung says the government is on the cusp of signing a deal to purchase doses with the pill’s manufacturer, US pharmaceutical company Merck & Co.
Results from a large clinical trial showed that the pill reduced COVID-related hospitalization and death rates by half.
Merck applied for emergency use authorization in the United States on October 11. Authorization for the drug could come as soon as December.
Taiwan’s Central Epidemic Command Center says that it intends to give the drug to COVID-19 patients with mild symptoms. It says that patients can take the pill by themselves, without special administration from hospital or medical staff, so the pill will most likely be given to COVID patients in home quarantine.