经济学人下载:药品研究 大家齐心协力

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药品研究

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大家齐心协力

Charities help Big Pharma
慈善机构协助大型制药公司

IT WAS once only drug firms that developed drugs. But this is changing. Take the case of the Michael J. Fox Foundation, a Parkinson's disease charity. On April 19th it announced that it would pay for a clinical trial of a drug developed by Sanofi, a French pharmaceutical giant, that might treat the mental symptoms of the disease.
过去只有制药公司才开发药品，但这种情况正在改变。就拿Michael J. Fox基金会，一个帕金森病的慈善机构来说。此机构在4月19号宣布他们将为赛诺菲（Sanofi），法国的制药巨头，所研发的一种药物的临床试验买单，此药有可能用于治疗帕金森病的精神症状。

The deal is the latest sign of a broader shift—one that is driven by desperation. Patents on blockbuster drugs are expiring. Research and development (R&D) have grown less productive, with billions of dollars yielding only a trickle of drugs.
这笔交易是产业萎靡所触发的转变的最新迹象。重磅药品的专利已开始失效。药品研发部门已不再那么多产，数十亿美金的投入只换来少许药品的诞生。

Some blame stringent regulators. Others grumble that big pharma firms are too bureaucratic. All agree that developing a new drug takes money (well over $1 billion) and time (over ten years in America). Whatever the cause, a shortfall in R&D has inspired a flood of new partnerships.
有些人将此归咎于严苛的监管部门，另一些人则认为大型制药公司太过官僚化。一个公认的事实是药物的开发是需要大量金钱（远超过十亿美元）和时间（在美国超过十年）的。无论原因如何，研发部门的低产给众多新合作关系的诞生以灵感。

Charities have been particularly bold. Companies, beholden to shareholders, are loth to do things that might lose them money. Charities, by contrast, exist to give the stuff away. The leading "venture philanthropist" is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. It has supported early research and clinical trials, small biotech firms and the biggest of Big Pharma companies, Pfizer. The foundation spent $75m on early research for Kalydeco, which in January became the first approved drug to target the mutated gene that causes cystic fibrosis. Kalydeco is owned by Vertex, a firm based in Massachusetts, but the foundation will get royalties from the drug's sales, which will then support further research. Other charities have followed the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's lead. The Fox Foundation, for example, has spent $289m on research.
慈善机构的参与尤其令人关注。受惠于股东的公司们的不作为可能会断送他们的资金来源。慈善机构，却相反，生来就是乐于施舍。囊肿性纤维化（Cystic Fibrosis）慈善基金是风险慈善的领头羊。此基金已对药物的早期研究，临床试验，小型生物科技公司和最大的生物制药公司辉瑞（Pfizer）给予资助。并且，投资7千5百万美金进行Kalydeco的早期研究，Kalydeco在一月份成为第一个针对导致囊性纤维变性的突变基因的药物，它是位于马萨诸塞州的Vertex公司的产品，此公司会从药品的销售额中给投资的慈善基金一定的分成，这又将会被投资于药品的进一步研究。其他的慈善基金也纷纷效仿Cystic Fibrosis。就如Fox慈善基金已在药物研究上投资了2.89亿美金。

Governments have also waded further into R&D.
政府也加入了投资药物研发的行列。

In 2007 the European Commission announced a ten-year, €2 billion ($2.6 billion) effort to improve collaboration in early research.
在2007年欧盟委员会宣布了一项将历时十年，耗资20亿欧元（26亿美元）的投资用于改善研究早期阶段的合作。

Even bolder is a plan from America's National Institutes of Health (NIH), the world's biggest supporter of medical research.
世界最大的药物研究赞助者，美国国家卫生研究院(NIH)的一项计划更为大胆。

In December the NIH created a National Centre for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) to speed up the development of new drugs.
去年12月NIH创办了一个先进平动科学国家中心(NCATS) 以加速新药物的开发。

One of the centre's projects is a chip to test the toxicity of medicines, providing a quick way to sort safe drugs from nasty ones.
其中的一个项目是开发一种测试药物毒性的芯片以实现快速药品检测。

Aware of their own limits, big drug companies are adjusting.
在认识到自身不足后，大型制药公司也在进行调整。

Elias Zerhouni used to lead the NIH. As Sanofi's head of R&D, he is now testing new partnerships, not only with charities but also with venture capitalists.
Elias Zerhouni曾是NIH的负责人，现在作为赛诺菲研发部主管，正在测试新型合作伙伴关系，不仅与慈善机构而且与风险投资机构合作。

In January Sanofi teamed up with one to invest in Warp Drive, a start-up based on the science of a Harvard chemical biologist.
在一月份，赛诺菲与二者之一合作投资了Warp Drive，一项创业启动项目，它是基于一位哈佛的化学生物学家的理论。

If it meets certain milestones, it has the option to force Sanofi to buy it.
如果此项目到达某些里程碑，是可以要求赛诺菲收购它的。

Others are similarly open-minded. Last year Eli Lilly, a big drug firm, launched a programme that allows any scientist who has developed a new molecule to submit it to the firm's laboratories for testing.
其他的大型制药公司也有类似的开明举措。去年礼来大药厂（Eli Lilly）启动了一个项目，允许任何研发出新分子的科学家提交他们的研究结果到药厂的实验室进行测试。

If it shows promise, Eli Lilly has the first right to strike a deal to develop it.
如果结果良好，礼来大药厂有优先权对其进行开发。

As for Pfizer, it has signed 20 agreements with America's best academic medical centres since 2010.
说道辉瑞公司，自2010年以来已于美国最好的药物学术中心签订了20项协议。

The deals provide cash, infrastructure and expertise to develop new ideas.
这个交易为开发新构想提供资金，基础设施和专业技能。

So far the firm has put up all the money; in the future it may invest with a venture-capital firm.
到目前为止，辉瑞已储备了所有资金，将来有可能会与风险投资机构合作。

This would let Pfizer tap bright ideas while taking on less risk, explains Jose Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos, who created the programme.
开启这个项目的负责人Jose Carlos Gutierrez-Ramos解释道这会使辉瑞得到更多有价值的创意，同时承担更小的风险。

Several factors could upend these experiments.
许多因素可能颠覆这些实验性举措。

Drafting intellectual-property deals that protect inventors and spur collaboration remains tricky.
起草知识产权交易来保护药物研发者和鼓励协作依旧十分棘手。

NIH is subject to political whims; some say it should stick to basic research.
美国国家卫生研究院受制于政治；也有人认为它应专注于基本研究。

And it is impossible to guess which model will be most fruitful.
哪种模型更为有效实在是不得而知。

Yet the trend is clear: Big Pharma now needs a lot of smaller partners.
然而，可以肯定的趋势是现在大型制药公司需要大量合作伙伴。