The U.S. Food and Drug Admnistration could authorize revolutionary COVID-19 antiviral pills from both Pfizer and Merck as soon as this week, Bloomberg reports, “a milestone in the fight against the pandemic that will soon expand therapies for the ill.”

According to three individuals with knowledge of the matter, an annoucement might even arrive as early as Wednesday. Both pills — Pfizer’s Paxlovid and Merck’s molnupiravir — work as an at-home treatment for higher-risk individuals who have tested positive for COVID-19. Regulators and developers hope the anti-virals will “ease the burden on stretched hospitals with infections poised to soar through the winter in the U.S.,” writes Bloomberg. In trials, Pfizer’s pill “showed an 89% reduction in hospitalization for patients who received the medicine within three days of developing symptoms, compared to patients who got a placebo.”

“It’s the biggest thing to happen in the pandemic after vaccines,”  Eric Topol, director of the Scripps Research Translational Institute, told Bloomberg, also noting that the unusual, late-in-the-year timing of the annoucement represents the urgency with which the FDA is operating.

The federal government has ordered 10 million courses of Paxlovid and about 3 million courses of molnupiravir, which clinical studies have indicated isn’t as effective, reports Bloomberg. That said, however, don’t expect the pills to be immediately available everywhere.

Last month, an FDA advisory panel “narrowly recommended” the Merck pill for use, as some members were concerned about its safety in pregnant women. Read more at Bloomberg.