Pill Prevents COVID-19 After Exposure to Infected People: Study

Ensitrelvir is approved in Japan.

A registered nurse cares for COVID-19 patients in a makeshift ICU (Intensive Care Unit) at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Torrance, Calif., on Jan. 21, 2021. Mario Tama/Getty Images

A pill called ensitrelvir prevented COVID-19 in people who were exposed to infected individuals, according to a new study.

Just 2.9 percent of people in a trial who received the pill contracted COVID-19, compared to 9 percent in a placebo group, researchers with the University of Virginia School of Medicine and other institutions said in a paper published by the New England Journal of Medicine that went over the study results.