A PILL TO TREAT COVID-19? THE U.S.

IS
1. shot: liều tiêm
BETTING ON IT 2. in record time: rất
nhanh chóng
The U.S. government spent more than $18 billion last year 3. pour (v): rót (vốn)
funding drugmakers to make a COVID vaccine, an effort that led 4. area of research: lĩnh
to at least five highly effective shots in record time. Now it is vực nghiên cứu
pouring more than $3 billion on a neglected area of research: 5. in the course of: trong
developing pills to fight the virus early in the course of infection, khi = during
potentially saving many lives in the years to come. 6. in the years to come:
trong những năm sắp tới
The new program, announced Thursday by the Department of 7. speed up: tăng tốc
Health and Human Services, will speed up the clinical trials of a 8. clinical trial: thử
few promising drug candidates. If all goes well, some of those nghiệm lâm sàng
first pills could be ready by the end of the year. The Antiviral
Program for Pandemics will also support research on entirely
new drugs — not just for the coronavirus, but for viruses that 9. influenza: bệnh cúm
could cause future pandemics. 10. wreaks havoc: tàn
phá, hủy hoại
A number of other viruses, including influenza, HIV and 11. accelerate (v): tăng
hepatitis C, can be treated with a simple pill. But despite more tốc
than a year of research, no such pill exists to treat someone with 12. fill a gap: lấp đầy lỗ
a coronavirus infection before it wreaks havoc. Operation Warp hổng
Speed, the Trump administration’s program for accelerating 13. key backer: người tài
COVID-19 research, invested far more money in the trợ chính một tổ chức, kế
development of vaccines than of treatments, a gap that the new hoạch
program will try to fill. 14. look forward to:
trông đợi
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy 15. antiviral pill: thuốc
and Infectious Diseases and a key backer of the program, said he kháng vi rút
looked forward to a time when COVID-19 patients could pick up 16. test positive: xét
antiviral pills from a pharmacy as soon as they tested positive for nghiệm dương tính
the coronavirus or develop COVID-19 symptoms.
17. go away: biến mất
“I wake up in the morning, I don’t feel very well, my sense of 18. call up sb: gọi điện
smell and taste go away, I get a sore throat,” Fauci said in an cho ai
interview. “I call up my doctor, and I say, ‘I have COVID, and I 19. prescription: đơn
need a prescription.’” thuốc
20. stem from: bắt nguồn
Fauci’s support for research on antiviral pills stems from his own từ = come from
experience fighting AIDS three decades ago. In the 1990s, his
institute conducted research that led to some of the first antiviral
pills for HIV, “protease inhibitors” (thuốc trị HIV) that block an 21. keep sth at bay: kiểm
essential virus protein and can keep the virus at bay for a soát, giữ ổn định
lifetime. ~ keep/put a/the lid on
In the early 2000s, researchers found that an antiviral called sth ~ stem the ride of
sofosbuvir could cure hepatitis C close to 100% of the time. 22. over-the-counter
Tamiflu, an over-the-counter pill for influenza, can cut the time it (adj): được bán qua hiệu
takes to recover from an infection and reduce the chances that thuốc, chưa có chứng
a bout of flu will land someone in the hospital. nhận
23. a bout of flu,etc.:
At the start of the pandemic, researchers began testing existing khoảng thời gian bị
antivirals in people hospitalized with severe COVID-19. But nhiễm bệnh (cúm, ốm)
many of those trials failed to show any benefit from the 24. land sb in sth: khiến
antivirals. In hindsight, the choice to work in hospitals was a ai ở trong tình huống nào
mistake. Scientists now know that the best time to try to block đó
the coronavirus is in the first few days of the disease, when the 25. hospitalized: được
virus is replicating rapidly and the immune system (hệ thống điều trị ở bệnh viện
miễn dịch) has not yet mounted a defense. 26. In hindsight: nghĩ lại
thì (trong quá khứ)
Many people crush their infection and recuperate, but in others, 27. replicate: tái tạo
the immune system misfires and starts damaging tissues instead 28. mount a defense:
of viruses. It is this self-inflicted damage that sends many people thiết lập phòng ngự
with COVID-19 to the hospital as the coronavirus replication is 29. crush their infection:
tapering off. So a drug that blocks replication early in an phá vỡ sự lây nhiễm
infection might very well fail in a trial on patients who have 30. recuperate: hồi phục
progressed (tiến tới, phát triển tới) to later stages of the disease. 31. misfire: phản tác
Note: recuperate = on the mend= pull through = on the road to dụng
recovery 32. self-inflicted: tự gây
ra
So far, only one antiviral has demonstrated a clear benefit to 33. taper off: trở nên yếu
people in hospitals: remdesivir. Originally investigated as a dần, giảm dần
potential cure for Ebola, the drug seems to shorten the course of 34. demonstrate: biểu
COVID-19 when given intravenously (qua tĩnh mạch) to thị, thể hiện
patients. In October, it became the first — and so far, the only — 35. shorten the course:
antiviral drug to gain full FDA approval to treat the disease. làm ngắn quá trình
36. underwhelmed: mất
Yet remdesivir’s performance has left many researchers hứng, tụt hứng
underwhelmed. In November, the World Health Organization 37. recommend against:
recommended against using the drug. khuyên không làm cái gì
38. formulation: công
Remdesivir might work more effectively if people could take it thức
earlier in the course of COVID-19 as a pill. But in its approved 39. orally: qua đường
formulation, the compound does not work orally. It cannot miệng
survive the passage from the mouth to the stomach to the 40. circulatory system:
circulatory system. hệ tuần hoàn

Researchers from around the world are testing other antivirals

already known to work in pill form. One such compound, called
molnupiravir, was developed in 2003 by researchers at Emory
University and has been tested against viruses including
influenza and dengue (vi rút dẫn đến sốt xuất huyết).

In partnership with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics of Miami, the 41. in partnership with:

Emory team carried out experiments in mice that were so hợp tác với
impressive that Merck approached them to bring the drug into
human clinical trials for COVID-19.

“We thought this molecule was really amazing,” said Daria 42. molecule: phân tử
Hazuda, vice president (Phó Tổng Thống) of infectious disease
and vaccine research at Merck.

In a trial of hospitalized patients, however, molnupiravir seemed 43. have no effect on:
to have no effect on the disease. In April, the companies không có hiệu quả gì với
announced they were scrapping the trial. 44. scrap: loại bỏ

“I see that, and I’m like, ‘Yeah, no duh,’” said Dr. Tim Sheahan,
a virus expert at the University of North Carolina. “It’s not 45.make a dramatic
surprising to me that those kinds of medications would not make improvement in sth: đạt
a dramatic improvement in someone’s outcome when they’ve được bước tiến lớn lao,
been sick for several days.” đáng chú ý

The companies began a second study last fall, this time testing 46. be diagnosed with:
the drug on people recently diagnosed with COVID-19. That được chẩn đoán mắc
trial is continuing, and Merck is recruiting volunteers with a bệnh gì
higher risk of infection, such as older people with obesity and 47. recruit = employ;
diabetes. Hazuda said the trial should deliver clear results by take sb on: tuyển dụng
October. 48. deliver clear result:
đem lại kết quả rõ rệt
Last year, the government’s funding of COVID-19 treatments 49. a handful of: một vài
focused on a handful of candidates, such as monoclonal (người, vật)
antibodies and remdesivir. Many other studies on antivirals were 50. underfunded: thiếu
small and underfunded. In January, the incoming Biden vốn
administration began designing a new program dedicated to 51. dedicated to: dành
antiviral pills. cho, dùng cho
Last week saw the first results of this planning. The Department
of Health and Human Services announced that it would purchase
from Merck 1.7 million doses of molnupiravir at a cost of $1.2
billion, provided that the current trial leads to authorization by 52. provided that: miễn
the Food and Drug Administration. The government may seek là
similar deals for two other antivirals far along in clinical trials,
according to Dr. David Kessler, chief science officer of the Biden 53. COVID-19 response
administration’s COVID-19 response team. team: nhóm ứng phó với
Note: incident response team: nhóm ứng phó với sự cố khẩn cấp covid-19

The hope “is that we can get an antiviral by the end of the fall 54. close out: khép lại
that can help us close out this chapter of the epidemic,” Kessler 55. chapter: a period of
said in an interview. time
+, be a chapter of
One of the drugs the government is considering is AT-527, accidents: một chuỗi các
developed by Atea Pharmaceuticals. The compound has already sự kiện xấu
proved safe and effective as a treatment for hepatitis C, and early
studies suggested it might also work against COVID-19. Roche 56. work against: cản
has partnered with Atea to test it in people, and the companies trở, gây khó dễ
are currently running a late-stage clinical trial. 57. run (v): điều hành
58. late-stage: giai đoạn
The drug had been designed to be taken intravenously, but the gần cuối
Pfizer researchers succeeded in altering its structure to work as a 59. alter: thay đổi
pill. When mice were given the drug orally, it reached high 60. launch: bắt đầu, giới
enough levels in the body to block the coronavirus. Pfizer thiệu, tạo ra
launched a clinical trial in March to study its safety in people and
expects to move to later-stage testing next month.

Kessler acknowledged that there will be challenges in using such

pills to drive down hospitalizations and deaths from COVID-19. 61. drive sth down: làm
People will need to gain access to the drugs as soon as they test cái gì giảm xuống
positive. “Your testing programs are going to have to be linked to 62. gain access to: tiếp
your treatment,” he said. cận tới

And if the history of antiviral research is any guide, the first

drugs for COVID-19 will probably only offer modest benefit
against the disease, Fauci said. But that would be a good start.
63. hit a home run: làm
“With all of these drugs that we’ve dealt with over the years, cái gì đó rất thành công
we’ve never hit a home run the first time at bat,” Fauci said. “A (RTB-unit 8)
line drive off the left-field wall to start would be really good.” 64. at bat: đến lượt đánh
bóng (chày)
The government will also spend up to $1.2 billion on research
centers where scientists will carry out early-stage studies on 65. carry out = conduct:
drugs that block the coronavirus in other ways. Some drugs may tiến hành
interfere with other essential viral proteins, while others may 66. interfere with: can
make it impossible to copy the virus’s genes. thiệp vào

Even if the next generation of pills does not arrive for a few
years, many scientists say that the research will be a good
investment. “It could help with this pandemic and potentially
provide a first line of defense for the next one,” said Mark 67. line of defense: hàng
Namchuk, director of therapeutic translation at Harvard Medical rào bảo vệ, cách phòng
School. ngự

The program will support research on pills that work not only 68. high-risk pathogens:
against coronaviruses but also against other high-risk pathogens, những mầm bệnh nguy
such as flaviviruses, which cause diseases such as dengue fever hiểm
and West Nile fever, and togaviruses, which cause
mosquito-borne diseases like chikungunya and eastern equine 69. mosquito-borne
encephalitis. diseases: những bệnh
gây ra từ muỗi
“There will always be a threat,” Fauci said. “I think there’s going
to be a long-range need for drugs.” 70. long-range need: sự
cần thiết ở phạm vi rộng
(khoảng cách, thời
gian,…)

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