The United States has secured millions of doses of Pfizer's experimental anti-viral pill for COVID-19, President Joe Biden announced on Friday.
"If authorised by the FDA we may soon have pills that treat the virus in those who become infected. We've already secured millions of doses. The therapy would be another tool in our toolbox to protect people from the worst outcomes of COVID".
President Biden said a potential FDA greenlight for the pill could "dramatically reduce" the risk of being hospitalised or dying from coronavirus.
The statement comes hours after Pfizer announced that it had developed an experimental antiviral oral treatment for coronavirus that can slash the risk of being hospitalised or dying from the virus by 89 percent if taken within three days of developing symptoms.
In a study of more than 1,200 coronavirus patients with a higher-than-average risk of developing serious illness, people who took the pills were far less likely to be hospitalised than those who got placebo pills. According to the study's preliminary results, no one who took a real pill died, whereas 10 people who were given placebo pills succumbed to the virus.
Pfizer chief executive Albert Bourla said that the data suggests the pill-based treatment, if approved, could "eliminate up to nine out of 10 hospitalisations".
The pharmaceutical company plans to share the data with the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) "as soon as possible" in a bid to have the pill authorised.
Pfizer rival Merck's COVID-19 pill is already under review at the FDA after showing strong initial results. The UK became the first country to approve Merck's pill on Thursday. Britain has also procured 250,000 courses of Pfizer's experimental pill, hailing the trial's results as "incredible".