評論
打印
Drugmakers and antibiotics
制藥商和抗生素
The path of least resistance
最省事的辦法
Governments reckon that drug firms' research efforts need a shot in the arm
政府認(rèn)為需要鼓勵藥企的研發(fā)工作
A GROWING worry in medicine is bugs' increasing resistance to antibiotics.
隨著細(xì)菌對抗生素的抵抗性越來越強(qiáng)，人們對藥物效用的擔(dān)憂與日俱增。
At AstraZeneca's research centre near Boston, scientists toil to find new weapons.
在波士頓附近的阿斯利康研究中心里，科學(xué)家們費力地尋找著對付細(xì)菌的新武器。
Machines screen thousands of drugs each year, robotic arms nimbly handling plates of compounds to test their effect on bacteria.
研究所里每年儀器篩查成千上萬的藥物，用靈活的機(jī)械手測試眾多藥物成分對細(xì)菌的作用。
But progress is slow.
可是進(jìn)程卻很緩慢。
It is not our hottest area in terms of commercial return, admits Martin Mackay, AstraZeneca's research and development chief.
阿斯利康研究和發(fā)展組組長馬丁·麥基承認(rèn)道：從商業(yè)收益來看，研制抗生素并不是最賺錢的。
Help is on the way.
援助很快就要來了。
On May 8th the European Commission and Europe's pharmaceutical association gave details of a plan to boost antibiotics research by up to 590m.
五月八號，歐洲委員會和歐洲制藥協(xié)會公布了一份援助計劃的詳細(xì)內(nèi)容，這個計劃的資助金額高達(dá)五億九千萬歐元，旨在鼓勵抗生素的研發(fā)。
The same day in America, a congressional committee weighed measures with a similar goal.
就在同一天，美國國會也就著相似的目標(biāo)權(quán)衡相關(guān)措施。
The attention is welcome. Its effect is less clear.
政府的關(guān)注值得肯定。但其結(jié)果就不太清楚了。
Drug-resistant bacteria cost Europe alone about 1.5 billion a year in health costs and lost productivity.
光是歐洲，每年因?qū)Ω犊顾幮约?xì)菌而產(chǎn)生的醫(yī)療費用及生產(chǎn)力損失就達(dá)15億歐元左右，
But firms have been slow to create new antibiotics.
而制藥公司新抗生素的研發(fā)一直進(jìn)展得很慢。
First, the science is tricky.
一是因為這門科學(xué)很是棘手。
Some bacteria have evolved to pump out the drugs that infiltrate their walls;
一些細(xì)菌已經(jīng)進(jìn)化到可以將滲入它們細(xì)胞壁的藥物排出去，
other, Gram-negativebugs have an impenetrable outer membrane.
而其它革蘭氏陰性的細(xì)菌都有著藥物透不過的細(xì)胞外膜。
Second, clinical trials are arduous.
二是因為臨床試驗困難重重。
Firms struggle to recruit enough patients with rare bacterial infections.
公司招不到足夠的被罕見細(xì)菌感染的病人。
Third, commercial prospects are grim.
三是因為抗生素的商業(yè)前景暗淡。
Patients take cholesterol drugs for life, but they usually take antibiotics for less than two weeks.
膽固醇藥物需終身服用，而抗生素的服藥期往往不到兩周。
It is no wonder that Big Pharma has directed its attention elsewhere.
所以，大型制藥公司將焦點轉(zhuǎn)移到其他領(lǐng)域也就不足為奇了。
AstraZeneca and GlaxoSmithKline are now the only big drugmakers with substantial antibiotics programmes.
制藥界巨頭中現(xiàn)在只有阿斯利康和葛蘭素史克保留有耗資巨大的抗生素研發(fā)項目。
Between 1983 and 1992 American regulators approved 30 new antibiotics.
美國醫(yī)藥監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)在1983年到1992年期間批準(zhǔn)了30種新抗生素，
Since 2003 they have approved just seven.
而從2003年至今，僅批準(zhǔn)了七種。
Governments are keen to change this.
政府急于改變這一現(xiàn)狀。
In February Tetraphase, a small company near Boston, won a $67m contract from America's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority for an antibiotic that might treat both anthrax outbreaks and serious infections in hospitals.
公司是一家位于波士頓附近的小公司，2月份時，它從美國生物醫(yī)學(xué)高級研究發(fā)展局那里贏得了一份六千七百萬美元的合同，研發(fā)一種抗生素，用于醫(yī)院應(yīng)對炭疽的突然爆發(fā)，治療其他嚴(yán)重的細(xì)菌感染。
GSK also has a contract with BARDA to test an antibiotic for Gram-negative bacteria. However, the company recently suspended enrolments to its trial because of complications in some patients.
公司GSK和BARDA也簽訂了合同測試一種可抵抗革蘭氏陰性細(xì)菌的抗生素，不過，由于一些病人出現(xiàn)并發(fā)癥，最近該公司中止了試驗的招募工作。
Seeking new ways to kill these vicious bugs is likely to be one of the main aims of the European Commission's new partnership.
尋找新方法來消滅這些危險細(xì)菌很有可能是歐洲委員會尋求新的合作關(guān)系的主要目的之一。
To boost research in America, Congress needs to renew a deal under which drugmakers pay fees to regulators for reviewing new treatments.
要鼓勵抗生素的研發(fā)，美國國會應(yīng)恢復(fù)監(jiān)管機(jī)構(gòu)審查新藥物療效，制藥商付費的協(xié)議。
The mammoth bill now before congressmen also includes measures to encourage the search for new antibiotics.
現(xiàn)在，擺在國會議員們面前內(nèi)容繁多的議案中還包括鼓勵新抗生素研發(fā)的一系列措施。
It would extend antibiotics' patents by five years, and let some treatments for life-threatening diseases be marketed before the final stage of clinical trials, thereby reducing their development costs.
如果該議案通過，那抗生素的專利權(quán)期限將延長五年，而且一些可治療危及生命的疾病的抗生素在臨床試驗的最后階段之前可投放市場，以減少它們的開發(fā)成本。
Kevin Outterson of Boston University says the government might provide an even bigger boost by paying more for new antibiotics,
波士頓大學(xué)的凱文·奧特森認(rèn)為政府可能會進(jìn)一步刺激抗生素的研發(fā),高價購買新抗生素，
but politicians are strongly allergic to spending more on health.
不過政治家們對于增加醫(yī)療健康開支都非常非常敏感。
It may be a decade before the European and American proposals produce an effective new antibiotic.
也許十年之后，歐洲和美國采取的措施會促使一種新的有效的抗生素的產(chǎn)生。
In the meantime, says David Payne, a research chief at GSK, the best sign of progress will be if other firms rejoin the fight against killer bugs.
與此同時，GSK的一名研究組組長說，其他公司也加入到這場對抗致命細(xì)菌的斗爭中，這才是有進(jìn)展的最好的征兆。
