经济学人下载:减肥商品 点肥成金不现实

Business
商业

Diet products
减肥商品

A big, bad business
点肥成金不现实

Medical firms struggle to profit from weight-loss treatments
制药公司试图从减肥治疗中获利

OBESITY is an epidemic to some and an opportunity to others.
肥胖症对某些人来说是传染病，对别的一些人来说则是机遇。

More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight.
超过三分之二的美国人已经超重。

Find a way to battle the bulge and a huge profit might be made.
找个办法和肥胖对抗，说必定就此大赚一笔。

On February 22nd one pharmaceutical firm, Vivus, took a small step towards this goal.
找个办法和肥胖对抗，说必定就此大赚一笔。

A committee advising America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that it approve Vivus's diet drug, Qnexa.
2月22日，Vivus制药公司朝着这个目标前进了一步。给美国食品药物管理局做咨询的一家委员会推荐，Vivus公司的减肥药Qnexa。

However, the pill's long-awaited final approval may not come until April, if at all.
但是，如果获得批准，该药品的漫长的最终肯定直到四月份才会到来。

The announcement mostly served as a reminder of what a struggle it is to turn fat into gold.
公告主要是提醒人们，这是一场点肥成金的抗争。

Pharmaceutical and medical-device companies are quite good at treating the conditions that come with obesity.
制药和医疗器械公司非常善于解决肥胖带来的问题。

However, they are dismal at helping consumers lose weight.
但是他们无法帮助消费者战胜肥胖本身，减少体重。

This is not for lack of trying.
这不是因为缺乏尝试。

Take the curious case of the gastric band.
以古怪的胃部束带为例。

Bariatric surgery can lead to weight loss in the long term. Hospitals can make money from all bariatric procedures, including gastric bypasses (in which the stomach is partitioned and the upper part connected directly to the small intestine), but the gastric band is a rare example of an opportunity for device-makers to profit from weight loss.
肥胖治疗手术可以帮助患者在较长的时间内减少体重。医院就是从这些减肥疗程中赚钱，包括胃绕道手术（手术中，胃被切割，直接把上部跟小肠连接起来），但是胃部束带却是一个罕见的例子，被当成一个器械制造商用来从减肥中赚钱的法子。

Allergan, best known for selling Botox, has tried to use its Lap-Band to tap the obesity market.
Allergan公司以销售肉毒杆菌而出名，尝试用产品Lap-Band打入减肥市场。

It is an inflatable loop which the surgeon fits near the top of the stomach, which helps the patient feel sated earlier.
Lap-Band是一圈松紧带，外科医生可以用它绕住患者胃的上部，这样患者会提前有腹饱感。

Allergan has captured about 70% of the worldwide market for gastric bands and balloons, but sales are now shrinking.
Allergan公司在全球胃部束带和充气袋市场占有率达70%，但是如今销量却有所下降。

The recession has sapped consumers' desire for expensive surgery.
经济不景气让消费者忍住做昂贵的手术的欲望。

Some patients have had bands removed because they slipped or proved ineffective.
有些病人甚至连束带也不用了，因为束带打滑或者没有效果。

Last year the FDA approved the Lap-Band's use in patients who are only slightly overweight, but insurers have refused to pay.
去年，美国食品药物管理局同意，微超重病人使用 Lap-Band，但是保险公司却拒绝付款。

In January David Pyott, Allergan's chief executive, said he would scrap an effort to market the band for teenagers.
一月份，Allergan公司首席执行官David Pyott说，他将放弃在年轻人束带市场的努力。

He is now trying to convince insurers of Lap-Band's merits, arguing that the $20,000 surgery is recouped in saved medical costs within four years.
他目前试图让保险公司也看到Lap-Band的优点，他认为两万美元手术费可以在四年之内通过减少医疗支出收回。

There is some scepticism about his chances of success: "The fact that banding is not as good as bypass has been known by everybody except the PR firms for the band," says Lee Kaplan, director of the Weight Centre at Massachusetts General Hospital.
至今仍有人怀疑他是否能成功：“事实上使用束带不必胃绕道手术好，所有人都知道，除了束带的公关公司，”马萨诸塞州中心医院体重中心主任Lee Kaplan如是说。

Drug companies have had even more trouble than device-makers.
制药公司的麻烦甚至比医疗器械公司的还要多。

It has been 13 years since the FDA approved a prescription diet pill.
从美国食品药物管理局批准减肥药为处方药到如今已经过了十三年。

That drug, Roche's Xenical, has notorious gastrointestinal side-effects.
瑞士罗氏制药公司的Xenical臭名昭著，该药会引发胃肠功能的副作用。

The FDA rejected Vivus's Qnexa in 2010 over concerns for the safety of pregnant women and the quickening of patients' heart rates.
美国食品药物管理局于2010年拒绝批准Vivus公司的Qnexa，因为担心该药对孕妇的安全造成伤害，担心该药会加快患者的心率。

Vivus's new data apparently satisfied the FDA's advisory committee.
Vivus公司新的数据显然让管理局的咨询委员会满意。

However, the agency may yet reject the drug.
但是该局还是可能拒绝批准该药。

Even if Qnexa is approved, it is unclear that patients will buy it.
就算Qnexa获得批准，患者会不会买账仍不明了。

Qnexa combines two treatments that are already on the market.
Qnexa结合了两种市面上上有的疗效。

Both medicines are generic, which means that doctors may prescribe the existing drugs rather than Qnexa's more expensive version.
这两种药物都是非专利药，这说明医生可能会给患者开已有的药而不选择Qnexa，后者更贵。

For now, it is more profitable to treat fat patients than to try to make them slim.
到目前为止，治疗肥胖患者还是要比让他们减肥更有利可图。