FDA advisers endorse Merck's COVID antiviral drug in narrow vote

A panel of the Food and Drug Administration's outside drug advisers voted narrowly Tuesday to endorse allowing antiviral pills developed by Merck and Ridgeback Biotherapeutics to be prescribed for COVID-19, following an hours-long meeting mulling the benefits and risks of molnupiravir to treat the disease in high-risk adults. 

While not binding, the vote by the FDA's Antimicrobial Drugs Advisory Committee could clear the way for the agency to grant emergency use authorization for adults, as the United Kingdom has already done. Some 3.1 million courses of Merck's five-day treatment have been purchased for distribution by the Biden administration, if the pill is greenlighted.

"I voted yes because COVID-19 is still an emergency situation," Dr. W. David Hardy, a scientist at Charles Drew University School of Medicine and Science and one of the committee members, said following the vote.