美国国家公共电台 NPR Tylenol For Infants And Children Is The Same. Why Does 1 Cost 3 Times More?

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Anybody who has a kid with a fever makes a discovery at the drugstore. There are two options for Tylenol - one for infants, one for children. They contain the same amount of medicine, but the infant version costs three times more. Why would that be? Here's NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin.

SELENA SIMMONS-DUFFIN, BYLINE¹: Turns out there's a backstory. For a long time, Infants' Tylenol was stronger than the children's stuff.

INMA HERNANDEZ: It was three times more concentrated.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: That's Inma Hernandez of the University of Pittsburgh School of Pharmacy². The thinking was you don't want to give little babies lots of liquid medicine, and you can give them less if it's stronger, hence the cost difference.

HERNANDEZ: The price per milliliter was five times higher.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: But there was a problem. Parents were making mistakes with dosing. Babies got sick, and some even died. So at the urging of the Food and Drug Administration in 2011, Johnson & Johnson announced a change.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED NARRATOR: Infant's Tylenol is now offered in the same concentration as Children's Tylenol.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: But the price is still different. With store brands of acetaminophen, it's the same story. The infant version is generally three times more than the one for children. I asked Johnson & Johnson, the maker³ of brand-name Tylenol, why. The company says the infant version comes in a sturdier bottle and has a syringe for accurate dosing. The children's version only has a little plastic cup. Inma Hernandez isn't convinced by that. She says what's expensive in producing a drug like this is the active ingredient, not a piece of plastic.

HERNANDEZ: The cap versus⁴ the syringe doesn't really explain the price difference, in my opinion.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: But Johnson & Johnson's explanation makes sense to Edgar Dworsky. He's a consumer advocate and founder⁵ of the website Consumer World.

EDGAR DWORSKY: There's an extra thing in the box, and extra things usually cost money.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: He says there's a convenience element here.

DWORSKY: Think of, you know, a spray cleaner. You can buy the spray cleaner in the spray bottle, and that costs little more money. Or you can buy the refill that gives you more ounces, but it doesn't have the sprayer on top. It's kind of the same concept.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: But this, of course, is not a spray cleaner. It's medicine for your baby. Parents can be sensitive to marketing⁶ because the stakes are so high. Dr. Ankoor Shah at Children's National in Washington, D.C., says when it comes to infant and children's acetaminophen, the most important thing is to get the dosing right.

ANKOOR SHAH: When you start giving more than recommended, there are serious side effects that could happen.

SIMMONS-DUFFIN: So the bottom line, know what you need. If spending that extra couple of dollars for the syringe will help you get the dosing just right, maybe the markup⁷ is worth it.

Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

3 maker   

n.制造者，制造商

参考例句：

• He is a trouble maker，You must be distant with him.他是个捣蛋鬼，你不要跟他在一起。
• A cabinet maker must be a master craftsman.家具木工必须是技艺高超的手艺人。

4 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。

5 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

6 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

7 markup   

n.加价，涨价，利润

参考例句：

• This mean that international delivery will line markup from today.这意味着国际快递将从今天起全线涨价。
• Our products are expensive,and distributors and retailers always want a large markup.我们的产品很贵，经销商和零售商总是要求高额利差。