Skip to content
Plain English
  • Pricing
  • Why Plain English?
  • 🌟 Watch #500 🌟
    Sign in Sign up
    Plain English

    • Pricing
    • Why Plain English?
    • 🌟 Watch #500 🌟

    Sign in Sign up
    • Pricing
    • Why Plain English?
    • 🌟 Watch #500 🌟
    Sign in Sign up

    Lesson #418

    Merck Pfizer COVID-19 antiviral pillsCurrent Events
    November 22, 2021

    Merck, Pfizer antiviral COVID-19 pills newest tools in pandemic fight

    Merck and Pfizer have developed antiviral pills that are effective at reducing COVID-19 hospitalizations and deaths. Pfizer also pledged to make the pills accessible to lower-income countries. The new drugs are certainly providing reason for optimism and should be available soon, but there’s a catch. Plus, learn “a step forward.”

    Exercise

    Exercises for Lesson 418

    Expression

    A step forward

    To take “a step forward” means to advance toward a goal.
    Video

    Go a step further

    Say a trend or direction continues with 'a step further'
    Lingo

    A walk in the park

    If something is “a walk in the park,” it is very easy to do.
    • About
      • Why Plain English?
      • Contact
      • Features
    • Resources
      • All Resources
      • Listening
    • Join Plain English
      • Plain English Plus+
      • Starter Membership
      • Forever Free
    ©2023 Plain English.
    • Terms of Use
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us

    Forum Description

    A new tool in the fight against COVID-19 comes in the form of a pill

    Lesson summary

    Hi there everyone, I'm Jeff and this is Plain English, where we help you upgrade your English with current events and trending topics. This is lesson 418 of Plain English and JR has uploaded the full and complete lesson to PlainEnglish.com/418. Coming up today…it's not a magic pill, but it sure sounds helpful. Two companies have developed antiviral treatments for COVID-19. These are for people who develop COVID-19; the treatments are effective at reducing hospitalizations and deaths. They are the latest tool for fighting the COVID pandemic. The English expression today is "a step forward" and we have a quote of the week as well. Let's dive in.

    Development of a COVID pill

    Two global pharmaceutical companies have developed antiviral treatments for COVID-19. The treatments are pills that COVID patients can take to reduce the risk of hospitalization or death. These two drugs are not the first antiviral treatments to hit the market. A drug called remdesivir was introduced in 2020 to treat the symptoms of COVID-19. But this existing treatment is administered intravenously, meaning that it's delivered in a hospital and is injected directly into your bloodstream via a drip-feed. This treatment has been given only to patients who are already hospitalized and each course takes between 30 minutes and two hours to administer. But it's not a great fit for everyone. The European Union only uses it on COVID-19 patients that have already developed pneumonia. What's more, it's expensive and some researchers have questioned its effectiveness. It's only available in 50 countries and its reach is limited only to those patients who are already in a hospital. The new drugs developed by Merck and Pfizer are a major step forward because they can be taken orally, at home. In clinical trials, Merck's drug reduced the risk of hospitalization and death by 50 percent. Pfizer's trials were conducted on adults at risk of severe disease; its drug was 89 percent effective at preventing hospitalization and death among that high-risk group. But there's one big catch: both these treatments have to be taken early enough. Both pills are designed to be taken by people who have COVID-19 but who are not sick enough to be in the hospital. Sounds easy, right? Patients should just start taking the COVID pill early in the course of the disease. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as it sounds. The nature of COVID-19 makes the timing difficult. That's because patients go through two phases of COVID. In the first phase, the virus replicates rapidly in your system. During this first phase, you may or may not experience any symptoms. In the second phase, the virus has already strengthened in your system, your body is starting to fight back, and you begin to feel the symptoms. But remember that antivirals help slow the replication of the virus in your system. So by the time you reach this second phase, it's too late to take the antivirals. You can see, then, why this might be a problem. Different people experience the first phase of COVID-19 differently. Some people do get mild symptoms early; others don't feel anything at all until they're in the second phase. And that's just it: if a patient only discovers he or she has COVID after entering the second phase, then it's too late to take the new treatments. The good news is that there's already something that can help you fight COVID-19 before you even get it: that would be vaccines. The vaccines are a preventative measure that prepare your immune system for dealing with COVID-19 before you even contract the virus. Doctors analyzing the new treatments are optimistic that the new pills from Pfizer and Merck will be an effective tool in the battle against the pandemic. But some are worried that people will become complacent about getting vaccines or boosters. Some people may mistakenly think they can just take a pill after getting sick instead of getting vaccinated. That could be a dangerous misconception. Taking the pills isn't exactly a walk in the park, either. Both treatments involve taking pills twice a day for five days. (And I'm guessing they're not small!) The Merck treatment requires you to take four pills twice a day for five days—a total of 40 pills in less than a week. The Pfizer one is just a little better, three pills each, twice a day. No significant side effects were reported in the trials. Both treatments are expected to be priced at about $700 per course in rich countries, about a third of the cost of existing antivirals. Pricing has not been released for lower-income countries; however, Pfizer has pledged to make its treatments accessible to any country. Merck is going a step further . It has licensed its drug to a United Nations-backed organization called the Medicines Patent Pool. Under this agreement, Merck will allow local drug manufacturers in 105 low- and middle-income countries to use its formula to produce and sell the drug under their own brands. This agreement means that more courses of the drug can reach more people, at lower cost, than if Merck had kept its formula to itself.

    Another tool in the toolbox

    This is good news. It's all about having as many tools in the toolbox as possible. Vaccines, frequent testing, and now antiviral treatments can all work together to end the pandemic. And a former commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration here said that he thinks we're about to end the COVID-19 pandemic with the combination of children's vaccines and COVID pills. I was surprised to see him go that far. He didn't mean that COVID would go away, just that it wouldn't be a pandemic anymore, if we had all these extra tools. I don't think I'm ready to say it's over, but this is definitely great news regardless.
    We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
    Cookie SettingsAccept All
    Manage consent

    Privacy Overview

    This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
    Necessary
    Always Enabled
    Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
    CookieDurationDescription
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional11 monthsThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-others11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
    cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance11 monthsThis cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
    viewed_cookie_policy11 monthsThe cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
    Functional
    Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
    Performance
    Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
    Analytics
    Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
    Advertisement
    Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
    Others
    Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
    SAVE & ACCEPT