新闻周刊:拜登希望通过打击制药巨头的垄断来降低药价

Biden Looks to Slash¹ Drug Prices By Going After Big Pharma's Monopolies

拜登希望通过打击大型制药公司的垄断来大幅降低药品价格

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released its "Comprehensive Plan for Addressing High Drug Prices" report that detailed² the Biden administration's plan on taking actions to address economic competition in the pharmaceutical³ sector⁴.

美国卫生与公众服务部发布了一份名为“应对高药价的综合计划”的报告，详细介绍了拜登政府为解决制药行业的经济竞争而采取的行动计划。

Spearheaded by HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, the plan laid out three guiding principles the department will follow as it moves to lower drug prices.

由美国卫生与公众服务部部长哈维尔·贝塞拉带头，该计划提出了该部门在采取行动降低药价时将遵循的三项指导原则。

These include making prices equitable⁵ for all consumers, regardless of health status or economic class, supporting health care research, and boosting competition within the sector.

这些措施包括使药价对所有消费者来说都是公平合理的，无论健康状况或经济阶层，支持卫生保健研究，以及促进该行业内的竞争。

The administration plans to address competition issues by curbing⁶ price hikes on name-brand drugs and limiting the power of patent holders⁷.

政府计划通过抑制名牌药品价格上涨和限制专利持有人的权力来解决竞争问题。

By doing this, they hope to boost the presence of generic⁸ drugs and biosimilars within the sector.

他们希望通过这样做来提升该行业非专利药和生物仿制药的存在比例。

"Life-saving prescription⁹ medication should not cost anyone their life savings¹⁰. Yet too often, many low-income families cannot take their prescription medications because of cost concerns," Becerra said.

“拯救生命的处方药不应该耗费掉任何人的毕生积蓄。然而，很多低收入家庭往往出于费用考虑而无法使用处方药。”贝塞拉说。

"The Biden-Harris Administration remains¹¹ committed to making health care more affordable¹² for American families, and this plan outlines one key way we will do that.

“拜登-哈里斯政府依旧致力于让美国家庭更能够负担得起医疗保健费用，这项计划勾勒出了我们将实现这一目标的一个关键途径。

By promoting negotiation¹³, competition, and innovation in the health care industry, we will ensure cost fairness and protect access to care."

通过促进医疗行业的协商、竞争与创新，我们将确保费用合理，并保障人们获得医疗服务的权利。”

Right now, the Department estimates that Americans spend more than $1,500 a person on prescription drugs.

目前，据该部门估计，美国人在处方药上的人均支出超过1500美元。

It wrote that the prices for name-brand drugs experience price hikes beyond the rate of inflation, adding that the costs become infeasible for many Americans, forcing them to decline prescription treatments.

它写道，名牌药品的价格涨幅超过了通货膨胀率，并补充说，对许多美国人来说，这些支出变得不可承受，迫使他们放弃处方治疗。

The administration attributes some of the reasons for the phenomenon to the monopolistic power of Big Pharma.

政府将这种现象的部分原因归结于大型制药公司的垄断势力。

For example, Turing Pharmaceuticals¹⁴' drug Daraprim, used to treat the parasitic¹⁵ infection toxoplasmosis that affects roughly 200,000 people a year, entered the market in 1953.

例如，图灵制药公司的药物达拉匹林于1953年进入市场。达拉匹林曾用于治疗寄生虫感染弓形虫病，该病每年影响约20万人。

It was soon followed by a number of FDA-approved generic versions of the drug.

很快，FDA批准了许多该药物的仿制药。

In later years, however, distribution of the drug became more controlled, pushing a number of generics¹⁶ out of the market who could not get the samples of Daraprim needed to complete required testing.

然而，在后来的几年里，该药物的分销受到了更严格的控制，许多仿制药被赶出了市场，因为他们无法获得所需的达拉匹林样品来完成所要求的的检测。

In 2015, the price of the drug ballooned from $13.50 to $750.00 per pill.

2015年，该药的价格从每片13.50美元飙升至750美元。

1 slash   

vi.大幅度削减；vt.猛砍，尖锐抨击，大幅减少；n.猛砍，斜线，长切口，衣衩

参考例句：

• The shop plans to slash fur prices after Spring Festival.该店计划在春节之后把皮货降价。
• Don't slash your horse in that cruel way.不要那样残忍地鞭打你的马。

2 detailed   

adj.详细的，详尽的，极注意细节的，完全的

参考例句：

• He had made a detailed study of the terrain.他对地形作了缜密的研究。
• A detailed list of our publications is available on request.我们的出版物有一份详细的目录备索。

3 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。

4 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 equitable   

adj.公平的；公正的

参考例句：

• This is an equitable solution to the dispute. 这是对该项争议的公正解决。
• Paying a person what he has earned is equitable. 酬其应得,乃公平之事。

6 curbing   

n.边石，边石的材料v.限制，克制，抑制( curb的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Progress has been made in curbing inflation. 在控制通货膨胀方面已取得了进展。
• A range of policies have been introduced aimed at curbing inflation. 为了抑制通货膨胀实施了一系列的政策。

7 holders   

支持物( holder的名词复数 )； 持有者； （支票等）持有人； 支托（或握持）…之物

参考例句：

• Slaves were mercilessly ground down by slave holders. 奴隶受奴隶主的残酷压迫。
• It is recognition of compassion's part that leads the up-holders of capital punishment to accuse the abolitionists of sentimentality in being more sorry for the murderer than for his victim. 正是对怜悯的作用有了认识，才使得死刑的提倡者指控主张废除死刑的人感情用事，同情谋杀犯胜过同情受害者。

8 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。

9 prescription   

n.处方，开药；指示，规定

参考例句：

• The physician made a prescription against sea- sickness for him.医生给他开了个治晕船的药方。
• The drug is available on prescription only.这种药只能凭处方购买。

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

11 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

12 affordable   

adj.支付得起的，不太昂贵的

参考例句：

• The rent for the four-roomed house is affordable.四居室房屋的房租付得起。
• There are few affordable apartments in big cities.在大城市中没有几所公寓是便宜的。

13 negotiation   

n.谈判，协商

参考例句：

• They closed the deal in sugar after a week of negotiation.经过一星期的谈判，他们的食糖生意成交了。
• The negotiation dragged on until July.谈判一直拖到7月份。

14 pharmaceuticals   

n.医药品；药物( pharmaceutical的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• the development of new pharmaceuticals 新药的开发
• The companies are pouring trillions of yen into biotechnology research,especially for pharmaceuticals and new seeds. 这些公司将大量资金投入生物工艺学研究，尤其是药品和新种子方面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

15 parasitic   

adj.寄生的

参考例句：

• Will global warming mean the spread of tropical parasitic diseases?全球变暖是否意味着热带寄生虫病会蔓延呢？
• By definition,this way of life is parasitic.从其含义来说，这是种寄生虫的生活方式。

16 generics   

n.（产品，尤指药物 ）无厂家商标的，无商标的( generic的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Pfizer has set up an in-house division to handle such generics. Pfizer已经建立了一个内部机构来处理这些学名药。 来自互联网
• Payers are being more pushy about getting patients to take generics. 药物费用的支付者更倾向于让病人使用非专利药。 来自互联网