经济学人: 制药公司并购:致死还是治愈？(1)

 As befits a deal in the medical industry, this one has been rather hard to swallow. 如医药行业的交易一样，该起并购相当难以下咽。

But on December 5th, eight months after Takeda, Japan's largest pharmaceutical¹ firm, 但12月5日，距日本最大医药公司武田制药

said it was interested in buying Shire, an Irish-headquartered drugmaker of a similar size, shareholders² at last voted to approve the acquisition. 称有意收购夏尔（一家总部位于爱尔兰的类似规模制药商）八个月后，股东们最终投票同意收购。

The purchase will cost Takeda $56bn in cash and new shares. Since the initial news of the deal the firm's share price has fallen by 25%. 武田制药将以现金和新股票的方式以560亿美元价格收购该公司。自关于该笔交易的最初新闻曝光以来，该公司股价下跌25%。

Takeda's acquisition is unusual. It is by far the largest foreign buy-out ever executed by a Japanese firm 武田制药的收购不同寻常。这是迄今为止日本公司实施的最大一笔国外收购

(even though the country's outbound merger-and-acquisition activity is surging). （虽然，该国的外向收购兼并活动在增长）。

Nor was Shire considered a likely target. Acquiring firms usually seek new technologies or overlaps³ that allow cost-cutting. 夏尔也并非被认为是最有可能的目标。收购通常是瞄准了新的技术或是能够消减成本的重合。

Shire does have a strong pipeline⁴ of new molecules⁵, but the portfolio⁶ did not complement⁷ any large drugmakers' existing suite⁸ of drugs, including that of Takeda. 夏尔确实有强大的新分子市场渠道，但投资组合并不能补充任何大型制药商现存的药物组成，包括武田制药在内。

Powerful domestic pressures are encouraging Japanese drugmakers to look abroad. 巨大的国内压力迫使日本制药商将目光投向海外。

An ageing population has put pressure on Japan's government-run healthcare system, which accounts for two-fifths of the country's drug spending. 人口老龄化给日本政府运作的医疗保健制度施压，这部分占该国药品支出的五分之二。

The health ministry⁹ is hard at work promoting generic¹⁰ drugs and pushing down prices. 卫生部在努力宣传非专利药和压低价格。

But few groups have taken as drastic action as 237-year-old Takeda, which in 2014 brought in as its leader a Frenchman, Christophe Weber. 但没有几个公司像武田制药这样采取了如此猛烈的行动，武田制药有237年的历史，2014年，法国人Christophe Weber加入公司任职CEO。

He has noted¹¹ that Japan's drugs market is only 7% of the global one, and that "if we want to be successful, we have to be successful outside of Japan". 他注意到日本的药品市场仅占全球药品市场的7%，并强调称“如果我们想要成功，就必须在日本之外取得成功。”

A slim pipeline of new drugs and fiercer competition also boded¹² ill for Takeda's revenues. 新药品的销售渠道缩减以及激烈的竞争也让武田制药的收益岌岌可危。

Slowing sales of Velcade, a cancer drug, were expected to wipe a fifth off its profits in the next few years. 抗癌药物Velcade的销售放缓，预计在未来几年内其收益将减少1/5.

The firm had only two new drugs with blockbuster potential in late-stage clinical trials. 在末期临床试验中，该公司仅有两种新药物前景广阔。

Buying Shire does help there: the drugmaker earns two-thirds of its revenues in America and its portfolio of rare-disease drugs will bolster¹³ Takeda's revenues. 收购夏尔确实有所帮助：这家制药商2/3的利润在美国，并且其罕见病药物组合将增加武田制药的收益。

 

1 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。

2 shareholders   

n.股东( shareholder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The meeting was attended by 90% of shareholders. 90%的股东出席了会议。
• the company's fiduciary duty to its shareholders 公司对股东负有的受托责任

3 overlaps   

v.部分重叠( overlap的第三人称单数 )；（物体）部份重叠；交叠；（时间上）部份重叠

参考例句：

• The style in these two books largely overlaps. 这两本书的文体有许多处是一致的。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• The new office overlaps the functions of the one already in existence. 新机构的职能与那个现存机构的职能部分重叠。 来自辞典例句

4 pipeline   

n.管道，管线

参考例句：

• The pipeline supplies Jordan with 15 per cent of its crude oil.该管道供给约旦15%的原油。
• A single pipeline serves all the houses with water.一条单管路给所有的房子供水。

5 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。

6 portfolio   

n.公事包；文件夹；大臣及部长职位

参考例句：

• He remembered her because she was carrying a large portfolio.他因为她带着一个大公文包而记住了她。
• He resigned his portfolio.他辞去了大臣职务。

7 complement   

n.补足物，船上的定员；补语；vt.补充，补足

参考例句：

• The two suggestions complement each other.这两条建议相互补充。
• They oppose each other also complement each other.它们相辅相成。

8 suite   

n.一套(家具)；套房；随从人员

参考例句：

• She has a suite of rooms in the hotel.她在那家旅馆有一套房间。
• That is a nice suite of furniture.那套家具很不错。

9 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

10 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。

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 boded   

v.预示，预告，预言( bode的过去式和过去分词 )；等待，停留( bide的过去分词 )；居住；（过去式用bided）等待

参考例句：

• The beginning of that summer boded ill. 夏季一开始就来势不善。 来自辞典例句

13 bolster   

n.枕垫；v.支持，鼓励

参考例句：

• The high interest rates helped to bolster up the economy.高利率使经济更稳健。
• He tried to bolster up their morale.他尽力鼓舞他们的士气。