The European Union's drug regulator has said that it has started reviewing US drugmaker Merck & Co Inc's experimental Covid-19 antiviral pill for adults following an application and could issue an opinion “within weeks,” reports Reuters.

The European Medicines Agency has already evaluated a substantial portion of the data during a rolling review that began in October.

Merck's pill Lagevrio has shown it can halve the chances of dying or being hospitalised for those most at risk of developing severe Covid-19 when given early in the illness.

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