纽约时报 摧毁阿片类药物之际 普渡制药家族嗅到了新的商机(3)

In 2009, two years after the federal guilty plea,

马萨诸塞州检察官援引的电子邮件往来记录显示，

Mortimer D.A. Sackler, a board member, demanded to know why the company wasn’t selling more opioids,

2009年，在签署联邦认罪协议两年后，

email traffic cited by Massachusetts prosecutors¹ showed.

莫蒂默·萨克勒，普渡制药公司董事，还要求了解公司为何没有售出更多阿片类药物。

In 2011, as states looked for ways to curb² opioid prescriptions³,

2011年，各州都在想办法控制阿片类药物处方的数量时，

family members peppered the sales staff with questions about how to expand the market for the drugs.

萨克勒家族的成员还向销售人员提出了大量有关如何扩大阿片类药物市场的问题。

Mortimer asked if they could sell a generic⁴ version of OxyContin in order to "capture more cost sensitive patients," according to one email.

一封电子邮件显示，莫蒂默曾询问（销售人员)他们是否可以销售普通版的奥施康定，以“俘获更多对药费敏感的患者”。

Kathe, his half sister, suggested studying patients who had switched to OxyContin

莫蒂默同父异母的妹妹凯特曾建议，对那些改用奥施康定的病人展开研究，

to see if they could find patterns that could help them win new customers,

看看能否借此找到帮助他们赢得新客户的模式。

according to court filings in Massachusetts.

马萨诸塞州的法庭文件显示。

The family’s statement said they were just acting⁵ as responsible board members,

该家族的声明称，他们那么做只是在尽董事会成员的责任，

raising questions about "business issues that were highly relevant to doctors and patients."

对“与医生和病人高度相关的商业问题”提出他们的疑问。

In July 2011, Mortimer and Kathe’s cousin Dr. Richard Sackler,

2011年7月，莫蒂默和凯特的堂兄理查德·萨克勒医生,

who had stepped down as Purdue’s president several years earlier but remained an influential⁶ board member,

几年前，他辞去了普渡制药总裁一职，但依然是公司颇有分量的董事,

went into the field with a sales representative to promote opioids to doctors,

曾在销售代表的陪同下亲自找医生促销阿片类药物，

though some in the company were concerned that his involvement could run afoul of regulators,

虽然公司有员工担心他的亲力亲为会和监管机构发生冲突，

according to documents in the Massachusetts case.

麻萨诸塞州的诉讼文件显示。

When he returned, he argued in an email to Purdue’s vice⁷ president for sales

回去后，他在给普渡制药负责销售的副总裁的一封邮件中辩称，

that a legally required warning about opioids wasn’t needed,

没有必要按照法律要求对阿片类药物（的危险性）发出警告，

and that it "implies a danger of untoward⁸ reactions and hazards that simply aren’t there."

不然反而“相当于在暗示药物有事实上根本不存在的不良反应和危险”。

(The family’s statement disputed that, saying that Richard supported accurate labeling,

（该家族的声明对此作出了反驳，声称理查德是支持明确在标签里注明药物风险的，

and merely questioned where on the label the warning should appear.

只是对警告应该放在标签上的哪个位置提出了疑问。

The statement also said he had not been out in the field with sales representatives since well before the launch of OxyContin, in 1996.)

声明还说，1996年奥施康定推出之前，他就早已不再和销售代表一起跑业务了。)

In 2014, Raymond Sackler, now deceased, sent three other family members a confidential⁹ memo¹⁰

2014年，现已去世的雷蒙德·萨克勒向家族其他三名成员发送了一份机密备忘录，

about Purdue’s strategy for placing patients on high doses of opioids for extended periods of time.

内容是关于普渡制药如何让患者长时间服用高剂量阿片类药物的策略。

The memo noted¹¹ that doctors had argued against the practice,

备忘录指出，医生们反对这种做法，

but that Purdue had beaten back efforts to impose caps on doses,

但公司压制了对剂量设置上限的努力，

according to the Massachusetts complaint.

马萨诸塞州的起诉书显示。

The next year, Jonathan Sackler, then a board member,

次年，时任董事会成员的乔纳森·萨克勒

sought information about how public health campaigns to curb opioid addiction¹² would affect OxyContin sales.

曾搜集过有关遏制阿片类药物成瘾的公共卫生运动将对奥施康定的销售造成怎样的影响方面的信息。

In 2017, he pushed to develop a new opioid, and asked the staff to present a plan at the next Purdue board meeting.

2017年，他力推开发一种新的阿片类药物，还要求员工在下一次普渡制药董事会会议上提交一份相关的方案。

1 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

2 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

3 prescriptions   

药( prescription的名词复数 )； 处方； 开处方； 计划

参考例句：

• The hospital of traditional Chinese medicine installed a computer to fill prescriptions. 中医医院装上了电子计算机来抓药。
• Her main job was filling the doctor's prescriptions. 她的主要工作就是给大夫开的药方配药。

4 generic   

adj.一般的，普通的，共有的

参考例句：

• I usually buy generic clothes instead of name brands.我通常买普通的衣服，不买名牌。
• The generic woman appears to have an extraordinary faculty for swallowing the individual.一般妇女在婚后似乎有特别突出的抑制个性的能力。

5 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。

6 influential   

adj.有影响的，有权势的

参考例句：

• He always tries to get in with the most influential people.他总是试图巴结最有影响的人物。
• He is a very influential man in the government.他在政府中是个很有影响的人物。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 untoward   

adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的

参考例句：

• Untoward circumstances prevent me from being with you on this festive occasion.有些不幸的事件使我不能在这欢庆的时刻和你在一起。
• I'll come if nothing untoward happens.我要是没有特殊情况一定来。

9 confidential   

adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的

参考例句：

• He refused to allow his secretary to handle confidential letters.他不让秘书处理机密文件。
• We have a confidential exchange of views.我们推心置腹地交换意见。

10 memo   

n.照会，备忘录；便笺；通知书；规章

参考例句：

• Do you want me to send the memo out?您要我把这份备忘录分发出去吗？
• Can you type a memo for me?您能帮我打一份备忘录吗？

11 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

12 addiction   

n.上瘾入迷，嗜好

参考例句：

• He stole money from his parents to feed his addiction.他从父母那儿偷钱以满足自己的嗜好。
• Areas of drug dealing are hellholes of addiction,poverty and murder.贩卖毒品的地区往往是吸毒上瘾、贫困和发生谋杀的地方。