2023年经济学人 胰岛素的价格战（1）（在线收听）

    “Move to the back if you’ve lost your life savings to the drug companies,” shouts a woman walking by your correspondent.

    走过记者身旁的一位女士喊道:“如果你因为制药公司而失去了一生的积蓄，请到后面排队。”

    A spirited group follows her to the end of a long queue for a Senate hearing on insulin prices on May 10th.

    5月10日，一群精神抖擞的人跟在她后面，排着长队等待参议院关于胰岛素价格的听证会举行。

    In the room David Ricks of Eli Lilly, a large American drug firm, testifies that insulin, used to regulate blood-sugar levels for diabetics, is cheap and even free in some instances.

    在会议室里，美国大型制药公司—礼来制药厂的大卫·瑞克斯作证说，用于调节糖尿病患者血糖水平的胰岛素很便宜，在某些情况下甚至是免费的。

    “If you contact Lilly today, we will ship you a month’s supply at no cost with one question: ‘What’s your address?’” he says.

    他说：“如果你今天联系礼来，我们会给你寄一个月的货，不会收费但有一个问题:‘你的地址是什么? ’”

    Those dressed in gear with slogans like “Insulin for All” shake their heads in disbelief.

    那些穿着“全民胰岛素”等标语的人怀疑地摇头。

    Drug companies may be offering cheap insulin, but it is not reaching all patients.

    制药公司可能会提供便宜的胰岛素，但并不是所有的病人都能买到。

    The high price of drugs is a long-running grievance for Americans—and insulin is a flashpoint, since more than 8m of them depend on it to survive.

    高昂的药价导致了美国人长期以来的不满，而胰岛素是一个引爆点，因为超过800万美国人依赖胰岛素生存。

    A standard unit that costs on average $9 in other rich countries sets Americans back $99.

    一份标准的剂量在其他富裕国家的平均价格是9美元，而美国人却要花99美元。

    A study in 2021 in the Annals of Internal Medicine, a journal, found that 1.3m people skipped or reduced insulin doses due to cost.

    2021年发表在《内科医学年鉴》杂志上的一项研究发现，130万人因成本原因不用胰岛素或减少了胰岛素剂量。

    According to GoodRx, a company that helps customers find low drug prices, the average cash price of insulin rose by 54% between 2014 and 2019.

    据帮助客户寻找低价药品的公司GoodRx称，2014年至2019年间，胰岛素的平均现金价格上涨了54%。

    The price then dropped by 11% between January 2020 and May 2023.

    在2020年1月至2023年5月期间，价格下跌了11%。

    Despite the recent dip, insulin prices remain high.

    尽管最近价格有所下降，但胰岛素价格仍居高不下。

    For older patients, the cost is now coming down.

    对于老年患者来说，费用正在下降。

    The Inflation Reduction Act, one of President Biden’s landmark laws, allows Medicare to negotiate with manufacturers for lower drug prices.

    《降低通货膨胀法》是拜登总统里程碑式的法律之一，它允许联邦医疗保险与制造商协商降低药品价格。

    It also requires companies to pay back Medicare if prices rise faster than inflation, and it capped insulin prices at $35 a month for Medicare.

    它还要求，如果药品价格上涨快于通货膨胀，公司就必须偿还联邦医疗保险，它还将联邦医疗保险的胰岛素价格限制在每月35美元。

    The new law seems to have nudged drug companies into offering lower prices for everyone.

    新法律似乎促使了制药公司为每个人提供更低价格的药品。

    On March 1st Eli Lilly announced an automatic $35-a-month cap on all insulins for those with private insurance at select pharmacies, and a similar programme for the uninsured.

    3月1日，礼来公司宣布对那些在特定药店购买私人保险的人每月自动收取35美元的胰岛素费用，对没有保险的人也实行类似的计划。

    The firm also promised to sell one of its non-branded insulins for $25 a vial, from May 1st.

    该公司还承诺从5月1日起以每瓶25美元的价格出售一种无品牌胰岛素。

    Sanofi, a French drug company, followed suit with a similar deal for one of its insulins, starting next year.

    法国制药公司赛诺菲也紧随其后，从明年开始对其一种胰岛素进行类似的交易。

    Novo Nordisk, a Danish firm, likewise announced lower prices for 2024.

    丹麦诺和诺德公司同样宣布会在2024年降价。