The government is in talks with US drugmaker Merck & Co to purchase 200,000 courses of the company's experimental Covid-19 pill, an official said on Monday.
Many Asian countries are scrambling for supplies of molnupiravir, the name of the oral anti-viral drug.
South Korea, Taiwan and Malaysia have said they are already in preliminary talks with Merck, while the Philippines, which is running a trial on the pill, said it hopes that its domestic study will help it secure favourable terms with the company.
Tests show the pill could halve both hospitalisations and deaths from the virus.
The pills could arrive as soon as December, though the deal would be subject to the pills' approval by both the United States and the Thai Food and Drug Administrations.
The price is $700 (about 23,600 baht) per course.
According to a report in The New York Times, the Merck anti-viral drug is meant to be taken as four capsules twice a day for five days -- a total of 40 pills over the course of treatment.
