2020年经济学人 制药公司让特朗普坐冷板凳(1)（在线收听）

Business

商业版块

Vaccines

疫苗

Strong medicine

强效药

Drugmakers tell Donald Trump to cool his heels

制药商让唐纳德·特朗普坐冷板凳

The world’s 7.5bn people want a vaccine for covid-19 as soon as possible. One person needs it by November 3rd. As President Donald Trump limps towards election day, he wants to report real medical progress against the disease. Earlier this year it seemed possible that one or two pharmaceutical firms might be able to obtain some sort of limited approval by the time Americans cast their ballots. That may still be possible. It is certainly desirable, given the pandemic’s toll on lives and livelihoods. But on September 8th, in an unprecedented move, nine global drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, GSK, Pfizer and Sanofi, announced a pledge to uphold scientific and ethical standards in the search for a coronavirus vaccine.

全世界的75亿人迫切希望能尽快研制出新冠肺炎的疫苗。还有一个人在11月3日之前就需要这个疫苗。美国总统唐纳德·特朗普步履维艰地迈近选举日，他希望汇报对抗新冠肺炎的真正医疗进展。今年早些时候，特朗普的谋算是有可能实现的，到美国民众投票时，可能给予一两家制药公司有限的批准。特朗普现在依旧可能得偿所愿。鉴于新冠肺炎扼杀生命、损害民生，这当然可取。但9月8日，包括阿斯利康、葛兰素史克、辉瑞和赛诺菲在内的9家全球制药商采取了史无前例的行动，他们宣布承诺在研发冠状病毒疫苗时坚持科学和道德标准。

The message is intended to reassure the public that the companies will not bow to mounting political pressure from the White House to rush through a vaccine without the proper safety and efficacy tests. But it is also a rebuke to the president, who has been politicising the drug-approval process—and eroding public confidence in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This could undermine trust in any vaccine that arrives, as sooner or later one almost certainly will.

这一信息旨在向公众保证，这些公司不会屈服于来自白宫的政治压力，不会在没有经过适当的安全性和有效性测试的情况下，仓促推出疫苗。但这也是对总统的一种指责，特朗普总统一直在将药物审批程序政治化，还削弱公众对食品和药物管理局（FDA)的信心。特朗普的举动可能会使美国公民无法信任研制出的疫苗，相关的疫苗几乎肯定迟早能研制出来。