TGA Approves COVID Pill Designed To Reduce Hospitalisations

Australians will soon gain access to two COVID pills designed to reduce the risk of hospitality and amount of patients in intensive care. 

Two new products have been granted approval by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), confirms Health Minister Greg Hunt.

The oral medication will be used for those most at-risk of severe illness after becoming infectious.

"To be prescribed by GPs or hospitals, and they help people who have contracted the disease and those who are most at risk of progressing to serious illness. So it's about helping prevent that transfer of being mild or moderate to serious," said Mr Hunt.

The tablets by Pfizer and Merck established Paxlovid and Lagevrio will begin arriving on Australian shores within weeks.

In clinical trials, they were found to minimise the risk of death in severe cases.

"It's not for everybody it's designed for those most at-risk, in particular the elderly. What we know is the TGA have looked at them, they've determined them to be effective and safe."

While the product can be provided by a GP, the TGA advised that the medication should be used as a substitute for the COVID vaccine.

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