A number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies, long known for being manufacturers of generic versions of Western medicines, are investing in the development of new drugs. One of them is a finalist in this year's Asian Innovation Awards.

　　中國(guó)制藥公司一直以生產(chǎn)普通西方藥物而為公眾所知，不過(guò)這些公司中也有很多開(kāi)始投資研發(fā)新藥。其中一種藥物還入圍了本年度《亞洲華爾街日?qǐng)?bào)》舉辦的“亞洲創(chuàng)新獎(jiǎng)”(Asian Innovation Awards)決賽。

　　Hutchison Medipharma Ltd. says it has developed an oral drug using an herb called Andrographis paniculata for the treatment of two debilitating inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

　　和記黃埔醫(yī)藥(上海)有限公司(Hutchison Medipharma Ltd.，簡(jiǎn)稱：和記黃埔醫(yī)藥)說(shuō)，它用一種叫做穿心蓮的中草藥研制了一種口服藥物，用于治療兩種致人衰弱的發(fā)炎性腸道疾病：潰瘍性腸炎和克隆氏病(Crohn's disease)。

　　According to the company, the herb is traditionally used as a Chinese folklore remedy for a wide spectrum of ailments such as upper respiratory infections and common cold.

　　該公司表示，中國(guó)民間一般用穿心蓮來(lái)治療如上呼吸道感染和普通感冒等各種小病。

　　The company is a Shanghai-based research lab that is 60%-owned by Hutchison China Meditech Ltd., a subsidiary of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.

　　Hutchison Medipharma中國(guó)民間一般用穿心蓮來(lái)治療如上呼吸道感染和普通感冒等各種小病。和記黃埔醫(yī)藥是個(gè)總部位于上海的研究實(shí)驗(yàn)室，其60%的股份為和黃中國(guó)醫(yī)藥科技有限公司(Hutchison China Meditech Ltd.)所持有，后者是香港億萬(wàn)富豪李嘉誠(chéng)旗下和記黃埔有限公司(Hutchison Whampoa Ltd)的子公司。

　　Hutchison estimates that bowel diseases, which cause a range of symptoms including abdominal pain, fever, fatigue, unintentional weight loss and ulcers, affect one million patients in the U.S.

　　據(jù)和記黃埔醫(yī)藥估計(jì)，美國(guó)有上百萬(wàn)病人感染腸道疾病。這些腸道疾病可引發(fā)腹痛、發(fā)燒、渾身乏力、非自愿性體重減輕和潰瘍等一系列癥狀。

　　It also says existing treatments include drugs that aren't recommended for long-term use because of serious side effects such as acne and puffiness of the face. Some treatments are extremely expensive, ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 per year, the company says.

　　和記黃埔醫(yī)藥還說(shuō)，目前不建議病人長(zhǎng)期使用藥物等現(xiàn)有治療方法，因?yàn)樗鼈儠?huì)引起痤瘡和臉部浮腫等嚴(yán)重副作用。該公司說(shuō)，有些治療方法還極為昂貴，一年的費(fèi)用在2萬(wàn)至3萬(wàn)美元不等。

　　Hutchison is one of a number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies investing in new patents and in 'carrying out their own innovation' in a market where high research-and-development costs and failure rates have discouraged many from trying to innovate on their own, said Jiang Jiandong, director of the Institute of Materia Medica at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

　　中國(guó)醫(yī)學(xué)科學(xué)院藥物研究所所長(zhǎng)蔣建東說(shuō)，和記黃埔是中國(guó)投資研發(fā)新專利和進(jìn)行自我創(chuàng)新的眾多中國(guó)醫(yī)藥公司中的一個(gè)，很多公司因高研發(fā)成本和高失敗率而打消了努力創(chuàng)新的想法。

　　“Most Chinese pharmaceutical companies invest 1%, or at most 2%, of their revenue in research and development,” said Ren Jinsheng, the chairman of Nanjing-based, New York Stock Exchange-listed Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, which created a medicine called Endo, used to treat non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer.

　　在紐約證券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)上市的南京先聲藥業(yè)集團(tuán)董事長(zhǎng)任晉生說(shuō)，大多數(shù)中國(guó)制藥公司在研發(fā)方面的投資占公司收入的比例僅為1%，至多2%。先聲藥業(yè)研發(fā)了一種名為恩度(Endo)的藥物，用來(lái)治療非小細(xì)胞性肺癌，這是最常見(jiàn)的一種肺癌。

　　Endo, which was developed with original research by Simcere's development team but doesn't contain herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, had about $33.8 million in sales last year, said Mr. Ren, who added that his company invests 6% to 7% of its revenue.

　　恩度是利用先聲藥業(yè)開(kāi)發(fā)團(tuán)隊(duì)的原創(chuàng)研究開(kāi)發(fā)的，但并不包含中藥所用的草藥。任晉生說(shuō)，去年這種藥物的銷售額在3,380萬(wàn)美元左右。他還說(shuō)，公司用于研發(fā)的收入有6%到7%。

　　Mr. Jiang said companies like Simcere are few in China, making the nation far from being recognized globally in the pharmaceutical industry because inventions are largely limited to modifications to existing medicines.

　　蔣建東說(shuō)，先聲藥業(yè)這樣的公司在中國(guó)很少，這使中國(guó)制藥行業(yè)遠(yuǎn)未達(dá)到獲得國(guó)際認(rèn)可的水平，因?yàn)檠邪l(fā)主要是局限于對(duì)已有藥物的改良。

　　Meanwhile, Samantha Du, who founded Hutchison in 2002 hoping to become one of the few Chinese pharmaceutical research and development labs to create new, innovative medicines, believes the new drug, called HMPL-004, is “one of the first innovative, patented, world-class pharmaceutical” therapies to be “discovered and developed in China for use around the world.”

　　而和記黃埔醫(yī)藥創(chuàng)始人杜瑩(Samantha Du)相信，該公司名為“HMPL-004”的新藥將成為第一批在中國(guó)發(fā)現(xiàn)和開(kāi)發(fā)、在全世界使用的創(chuàng)新的、受專利保護(hù)的、世界級(jí)的醫(yī)藥療法之一。杜瑩在2002年創(chuàng)辦和記黃埔醫(yī)藥，希望讓它成為中國(guó)少有的幾家開(kāi)發(fā)新藥的醫(yī)藥研發(fā)實(shí)驗(yàn)室之一。

　　A number of drugs using materials from Chinese herbs are sold outside China, including in Southeast Asia, Russia and the Middle East. But Hutchison says HMPL-004 breaks new ground because it is the first major development of traditional Chinese medicine into a Western oral prescription pharmaceutical, and that clinical trials in 2009 showed that the drug's effects are comparable to “extremely expensive biological pharmaceuticals” by large Western companies “without requiring an injection and without the related side effects.”

　　已有幾種使用中草藥材料的藥物在中國(guó)以外地區(qū)有售，包括東南亞、俄羅斯和中東。但和記黃埔醫(yī)藥公司說(shuō)，HMPL-004具有突破性，因?yàn)樗侵兴幭蛭鞣娇诜幏剿幍牡谝淮沃卮筠D(zhuǎn)變，2009年臨床試驗(yàn)也表明，這種藥物的療效可比西方大公司極其昂貴的生物制藥，同時(shí)不需要注射，沒(méi)有相關(guān)副作用。

　　Ms. Du said Hutchison has been awarded a patent in the U.S., and is awaiting a decision on its Chinese patent application, filed last year.

　　杜瑩說(shuō)，和記黃埔醫(yī)藥已在美國(guó)獲得了一項(xiàng)專利，去年在中國(guó)申請(qǐng)了專利，正在等待批準(zhǔn)。

　　Initial trials of HMPL-004 have had positive reviews. Stephan Targan, director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center and the Division of Gastroenterology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that “as a natural oral product, it offers a promising treatment.”

　　HMPL-004的臨床試驗(yàn)獲得了積極評(píng)價(jià)。洛杉磯雪松西奈醫(yī)療中心(Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)炎癥性腸病中心主任兼腸胃科主任塔爾甘(Stephan Targan)說(shuō)，作為一種天然口服藥，它帶來(lái)了一種有希望的療法。

　　Ms. Du hopes the drug will pass U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards so it can be offered commercially as soon as in the next three years. It 'will have a lot of historical meaning,' she said.

　　杜瑩希望這種藥物能夠滿足美國(guó)食品藥品管理局(Food and Drug Administration)的標(biāo)準(zhǔn)，以便最早能在三年內(nèi)實(shí)現(xiàn)商業(yè)化銷售。她說(shuō)，它將具有很多歷史意義。