MADISON, Wis.— Drugmaker Merck claimed its experimental COVID-19 pill can reduce hospitalizations and deaths by half. 

The company said early results show people who take Molnupiravir within five days of developing symptoms have a reduced risk of dying or being hospitalized.

Dr. Nasia Safdar is the medical director of infection control at UW Health. She said there needs to be more review of the data to understand the actual impact the medication could have. 

"It certainly sounds promising, but part of the reason these things have to be peer-reviewed is so that limitations can be brought up and study design can be assessed and so on," Safdar said.

She pointed out right now the only option to treat COVID-19 for patients who are not in the hospital is with monoclonal antibodies.

"Those are challenging to administer because they are intravenous or subcutaneous. You have to have a lot of infrastructure with nursing and observation and so on to be able to do it," she said. 

Not many people can take advantage of the treatment. The pill is oral, and patients would be able to take it at home. Safdar pointed out an easy way to administer outpatient medications is needed for pandemic-related treatments. 

She said as long as Molnupiravir is found to be safe and effective, she thinks it could change the way we approach mild COVID-19 infection treatment.  

"We will have to see if it impacts things like long COVID afterwards," Safdar said. "If you treat it early does that help in any way?"  

Merck plans to ask for approval for Molnupiravir, both from health officials in the U.S. and around the world. Safdar said when the company submits data to the FDA that will be independently reviewed as part of a rigorous evaluation process. 

If the drug gets the green light, the company said it can produce 10 million doses by the end of the year.