US health regulators authorise the first pill against COVID-19, a Pfizer drug that Americans will be able to take at home to head off the worst effects of the virus.
The US is now reporting more than 140,000 new infections daily and federal officials warn that the Omicron variant could send case counts soaring.
But they are expensive, hard to produce and require an injection or infusion, typically given at a hospital or clinic. With testing supplies stretched, experts worry it may be unrealistic for patients to self-diagnose, get tested, see a physician and pick up a prescription within that narrow window. Less than 1 per cent of patients taking the drug were hospitalised and none died at the end of the 30-day study period, compared with 6.5 per cent of patients hospitalised in the group getting a dummy pill, which included nine deaths.
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