VOA慢速英语2019 药物开发商瞄准“引导导弹”抗癌药物

 Drug Developers Take Aim at 'Guided-Missile' Cancer Drugs

Companies are testing a record 89 treatments on humans to fight cancer. These treatments combine antibodies from the body's natural defense¹ system with agents that fight cancer.

公司正在测试89种创纪录的人类抗癌疗法。这些疗法将人体自然防御系统的抗体与抗癌药结合在一起。

They are testing what they call antibody-drug conjugates², or ADCs.

他们正在测试所谓的抗体-药物偶联物或ADC。

Researchers describe ADCs as "guided missiles" in the fight against cancer. They are designed to target cancer cells and then release cytotoxins – substances that have a toxic³ or poisonous effect on the cells.

研究人员将ADC描述为对抗癌症的“制导导弹”。它们旨在靶向癌细胞，然后释放细胞毒素-对细胞有毒或有毒作用的物质。

ADCs are up to 10,000 times as powerful as most chemotherapy treatments. They also reduce damage to healthy tissue.

ADC的功能是大多数化学疗法的10,000倍。它们还减少了对健康组织的损害。

Developing ADCs has been a major aim for the biotechnology industry for years. Many experimental ADCs, however, failed because of the difficulty of combining the right antibody with the right cancer-killing substance. Some ADCs were found to be too weak. Others were too harmful.

多年来，开发ADC一直是生物技术行业的主要目标。但是，由于难以将正确的抗体与正确的杀癌物质结合在一起，许多实验性ADC失败了。发现某些ADC太弱。其他人则太有害了。

From 2000 to 2018, only five ADCs won official approval. Only one ADC, developed by drug maker⁴ Roche, has reached $1 billion in yearly sales. It was approved in 2013 to treat breast cancer. Studies showed the drug increased the chances of disease-free survival for some patients compared with the usual treatment.

从2000年到2018年，只有五个ADC获得官方批准。由制药商罗氏公司开发的唯一一个ADC的年销售额已达到10亿美元。它于2013年获得批准用于治疗乳腺癌。研究表明，与常规治疗相比，该药物增加了某些患者无病生存的机会。

In 2019, U.S. officials approved three ADCs, the most ever in a single year. One of them was the breast cancer drug Enhertu, developed by AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo. It was shown to help patients who had failed numerous treatments.The drug helped them survive more than 16 months on average before their disease worsened.

2019年，美国官员批准了三个ADC，这是一年中最多的一次。其中之一是由阿斯利康和第一三共开发的乳腺癌药物Enhertu。它被证明可以帮助治疗失败的患者。该药可以使他们的病情平均恶化超过16个月。

Padcev, a bladder cancer drug, received approval in December. Research showed that 44% of patients who had failed immunotherapy showed improvement when they were tested after treatment. In some cases, patients showed no evidence of cancer. The drug is a product of two companies, Astellas and Seattle Genetics.

Padcev是一种膀胱癌药物，于12月获得批准。研究表明，免疫治疗失败的患者中有44％接受治疗后表现出改善。在某些情况下，患者未显示出癌症迹象。该药物是两家公司Astellas和Seattle Genetics的产品。

Another drug, Polivy, was approved in June to treat lymphoma. When combined with two other treatments, 40% of patients showed no sign of disease. Polivy is a product of the Swiss drug maker Roche.

六月，另一种药物Polivy被批准用于治疗淋巴瘤。当与其他两种疗法结合使用时，40％的患者未显示出疾病迹象。 Polivy是瑞士制药商Roche的产品。

New record

新纪录

Reuters news agency says the biotechnology industry is growing hopeful about the effectiveness of ADCs.

路透社说，生物技术行业对ADC的有效性越来越抱有希望。

Information provided by Beacon⁵ Targeted Therapies shows that the number of ADC drug candidates is at record levels. Many more ADCs are being considered before human testing is permitted.

信标靶向疗法提供的信息显示，ADC候选药物的数量处于创纪录水平。在允许进行人工测试之前，正在考虑使用更多ADC。

Beacon advises drug makers⁶ on targeted treatments. The service helps them decide whether to continue working on possible drugs or redirect efforts.

信标为药物制造商提供针对性治疗建议。这项服务可帮助他们决定是继续研究可能的药物还是重定向工作。

Current ADC projects include GlaxoSmithKline testing a drug to fight multiple myeloma.

当前的ADC项目包括葛兰素史克（GlaxoSmithKline）测试一种抗多发性骨髓瘤的药物。

ADC Therapeutics has launched several studies on experimental drugs for treating blood cancers and solid tumors.

ADC Therapeutics已针对治疗血液癌和实体瘤的实验药物开展了多项研究。

And ImmunoGen, based in the American state of Massachusetts, is developing an ADC to treat ovarian cancer. In December, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said the drug might become a candidate for a faster than normal approval.

总部位于美国马萨诸塞州的ImmunoGen正在开发一种ADC来治疗卵巢癌。美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）在12月表示，该药物可能会以比正常批准更快的速度成为候选药物。

The increase in ADC investment is partly because of improvements in what researchers are calling "linker" technology. The linker joins the antibody to the cancer-killing cytotoxins.

ADC投资的增加部分是由于研究人员称之为“链接器”技术的改进。接头将抗体连接至杀死癌症的细胞毒素。

Giuseppe Curigliano is clinical director of early drug development at the European Institute of Oncology in Milan. He told Reuters, "There is a revival⁷ again because there is a new generation of molecules⁸ in which the linker is more efficient."

朱塞佩·库里利亚诺（Giuseppe Curigliano）是米兰欧洲肿瘤研究所早期药物开发的临床主管。他对路透社说：“又有了复兴，因为有了新一代的分子，其中的连接子更有效。”

重点词汇：

Words in This Story：

chemotherapy – n. the use of chemical agents to treat disease

immunotherapy – n. treatment or prevention of disease that involved suppression or strengthening the body's natural defenses against disease

1 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

2 conjugates   

v.列出（动词的）变化形式( conjugate的第三人称单数 )；结合，联合，熔化

参考例句：

• In English\"to have \" conjugates irregularly. 英语中“to have”变化不规则。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Conjugates of proteins with carbohydrate are termed glycoproteins. 蛋白质和碳水化合物的结合物称为糖蛋白。 来自辞典例句

3 toxic   

adj.有毒的，因中毒引起的

参考例句：

• The factory had accidentally released a quantity of toxic waste into the sea.这家工厂意外泄漏大量有毒废物到海中。
• There is a risk that toxic chemicals might be blasted into the atmosphere.爆炸后有毒化学物质可能会进入大气层。

4 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。

5 beacon   

n.烽火，（警告用的）闪火灯，灯塔

参考例句：

• The blink of beacon could be seen for miles.灯塔的光亮在数英里之外都能看见。
• The only light over the deep black sea was the blink shone from the beacon.黑黢黢的海面上唯一的光明就只有灯塔上闪现的亮光了。

6 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 revival   

n.复兴，复苏，（精力、活力等的）重振

参考例句：

• The period saw a great revival in the wine trade.这一时期葡萄酒业出现了很大的复苏。
• He claimed the housing market was showing signs of a revival.他指出房地产市场正出现复苏的迹象。

8 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。