2019年经济学人 抗生素生产商的困境(1)

 

Getting hold of penicillin¹ in 1943 was a lottery² in America.

1943年，在美国想要获得青霉素简直就得碰运气。

The "miracle drug" had been discovered 15 years earlier but production capacity was limited, and most went to the war effort.

这种“特效药”早在15年前就被发现了，但生产力有限且大部分都投入了战争。

What remained was rationed³, and a single injection cost at least $40 (about $600 in today's prices).

剩下的都是定量配给，注射一支青霉素至少要40美元（约为现在的600美元）。

By 1949 better manufacturing methods allowed the price to fall to 20 cents. The use of penicillin exploded.

到1949年，更好的生产方法让价格降到了20美分。青霉素的使用激增。

Antibiotics⁵ subsequently became a staple⁶ of modern medicine. Massive volumes offset⁷ low margins⁸. No longer.

随后，抗生素变成了现代医学的主要部分。巨大的销量抵消了利润率较低的影响。

Finding new molecules⁹ is getting harder, which means higher development costs.

发现新分子变得越来越难，这意味着开发成本更高了。

At the same time, growing awareness¹⁰ that overuse accelerates development of bacterial¹¹ resistance to the drugs has led to "antibiotics stewardship¹²",

与此同时，越来越多的人意识到了过渡使用抗生素加速了细菌对药物的抗药性，这就导致了“抗生素管理”，

the practice of using the newest antibiotics only for infections untreatable with older ones.

只用最新抗生素治疗旧抗生素无法治愈的感染。

Volumes, in other words, are often disappointing. With returns from antibiotics down,

换而言之，销量经常让人失望。随着抗生素回报下降，

big pharmaceutical¹³ companies have abandoned them for more lucrative¹⁴ drugs.

大型制药公司为了更赚钱的药物而放弃了它们。

GlaxoSmithKline, Pfizer and Merck are the only three doing clinical research in the field.

葛兰素史克、辉瑞和默克是该领域仅有的三家做临床研究的公司。

Small biotechnology firms tried to pick up the slack. In the past ten years,

小型生物科技公司试图弥补空白。在过去的十年里，

as the world began to panic about the rise of resistant¹⁵ superbugs, governments and charities provided early-stage financing.

世界开始对耐药性超级细菌的崛起感到恐慌，政府和慈善机构提供了初期融资。

Like big pharma, though, the biotech startups have struggled to make money from antibiotics.

虽然和大型制药公司一样，生物科技创业公司也难以从抗生素中赚钱。

An American one, Achaogen, filed for bankruptcy¹⁶ on April 15th; plazomicin, a novel antibiotic⁴ it began selling in 2018,

4月15日，一家美国公司Achaogen申请破产；该公司在2018年开始销售一种新型抗生素—plazomicin，

sold barely any doses in the first eight months. Melinta, another antibiotics startup, is restructuring.

头八个月几乎没有卖出过任何剂量。另一家抗生素创业公司Melinta正在重组。

Share prices of similar firms have plunged¹⁷, in some cases below their liquidation¹⁸ value.

类似公司的股价暴跌，一些甚至低于清算价值。

1 penicillin   

n.青霉素，盘尼西林

参考例句：

• I should have asked him for a shot of penicillin.我应当让他给我打一针青霉素的。
• Penicillin was an extremely significant medical discovery.青霉素是极其重要的医学发现。

2 lottery   

n.抽彩；碰运气的事，难于算计的事

参考例句：

• He won no less than ￡5000 in the lottery.他居然中了5000英镑的奖券。
• They thought themselves lucky in the lottery of life.他们认为自己是变幻莫测的人生中的幸运者。

3 rationed   

限量供应，配给供应( ration的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• We were rationed to two eggs a day. 每天配给我们两个鸡蛋。
• The army is well rationed. 部队给养良好。

4 antibiotic   

adj.抗菌的；n.抗生素

参考例句：

• The doctor said that I should take some antibiotic.医生说我应该服些用抗生素。
• Antibiotic can be used against infection.抗菌素可以用来防止感染。

5 antibiotics   

n.（用作复数）抗生素；（用作单数）抗生物质的研究；抗生素，抗菌素( antibiotic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the discovery of antibiotics in the 20th century 20世纪抗生素的发现
• The doctor gave me a prescription for antibiotics. 医生给我开了抗生素。

6 staple   

n.主要产物，常用品，主要要素，原料，订书钉，钩环；adj.主要的，重要的；vt.分类

参考例句：

• Tea is the staple crop here.本地产品以茶叶为大宗。
• Potatoes are the staple of their diet.土豆是他们的主要食品。

7 offset   

n.分支，补偿；v.抵消，补偿

参考例句：

• Their wage increases would be offset by higher prices.他们增加的工资会被物价上涨所抵消。
• He put up his prices to offset the increased cost of materials.他提高了售价以补偿材料成本的增加。

8 margins   

边( margin的名词复数 )； 利润； 页边空白； 差数

参考例句：

• They have always had to make do with relatively small profit margins. 他们不得不经常设法应付较少的利润额。
• To create more space between the navigation items, add left and right margins to the links. 在每个项目间留更多的空隙，加左或者右的margins来定义链接。

9 molecules   

分子( molecule的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The structure of molecules can be seen under an electron microscope. 分子的结构可在电子显微镜下观察到。
• Inside the reactor the large molecules are cracked into smaller molecules. 在反应堆里，大分子裂变为小分子。

10 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

11 bacterial   

a.细菌的

参考例句：

• Bacterial reproduction is accelerated in weightless space. 在失重的空间，细菌繁殖加快了。
• Brain lesions can be caused by bacterial infections. 大脑损伤可能由细菌感染引起。

12 stewardship   

n. n. 管理工作；管事人的职位及职责

参考例句：

• The organization certainly prospered under his stewardship. 不可否认，这个组织在他的管理下兴旺了起来。
• Last, but certainly not least, are the issues of stewardship and ethics. 最后，但当然不是微不足道的，是工作和道德规范的问题。

13 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

14 lucrative   

adj.赚钱的，可获利的

参考例句：

• He decided to turn his hobby into a lucrative sideline.他决定把自己的爱好变成赚钱的副业。
• It was not a lucrative profession.那是一个没有多少油水的职业。

15 resistant   

adj.(to)抵抗的，有抵抗力的

参考例句：

• Many pests are resistant to the insecticide.许多害虫对这种杀虫剂有抵抗力。
• They imposed their government by force on the resistant population.他们以武力把自己的统治强加在持反抗态度的人民头上。

16 bankruptcy   

n.破产；无偿付能力

参考例句：

• You will have to pull in if you want to escape bankruptcy.如果你想避免破产，就必须节省开支。
• His firm is just on thin ice of bankruptcy.他的商号正面临破产的危险。

17 plunged   

v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 )；暴跌；骤降；突降

参考例句：

• The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
• She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳，从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。

18 liquidation   

n.清算，停止营业

参考例句：

• The bankrupt company went into liquidation.这家破产公司停业清盘。
• He lost all he possessed when his company was put into liquidation.当公司被清算结业时他失去了拥有的一切。