An expert committee narrowly voted on Tuesday to recommend that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorize a COVID-19 pill from Merck for high-risk adults, the first in a new class of antiviral drugs that could be effective against a wide range of variants, including recently-discovered Omicron.

The drug, known as molnupiravir, has shown efficacy to moderately reduce the risk of hospitalization and death, predominantly from the Delta, Mu and Gamma variants, The New York Times has reported. Merck plans to study whether molnupiravir can be effective against the Omicron variant.