VOA慢速英语--新药有望抗击肺癌,前列腺癌和结肠癌

New Drugs Make Big Difference in Treating Lung, Prostate, Colon¹ Cancers

Doctors are reporting success with newer drugs that control some kinds of cancer better than current medicines. They say these drugs reduce the risk that the cancer will come back and make treatment simpler and easier for patients.

One such drug, taken as a daily pill, called Tagrisso, comes from drug manufacturer AstraZeneca. The British-based company says Tagrisso targets a mutation² in the patient's genes⁴, unlike chemotherapy drugs, which can kill both cancerous and healthy cells.

Doctors say the new drug's side effects can be controlled long enough that it can be used for several years to help prevent the cancer from returning.

Yet Tagrisso and other newer drugs can cost $150,000 or more a year. How much patients end up paying depends on their healthcare insurance, earnings⁵, and other considerations.

Lung cancer

Lung cancer kills more than 1.7 million people worldwide each year. Roy Herbst is a doctor with the Yale Cancer Center in the United States. He led a study of Tagrisso in 682 patients with the most common form of the disease. All had operable tumors with a mutation in a gene³ called EGFR. This unusual genetic⁷ structure is found in 10 percent to 35 percent of such cases, mainly among Asians and non-smokers.

About half of the patients were given chemotherapy after their tumor⁶ operation. The drug treatment uses powerful chemicals to kill the cancer cells. The patients then took Tagrisso or harmless pills called placebos⁹.

Independent observers stopped the study in April when the effectiveness of Tagrisso seemed clear.

After two years on average, 89 percent of patients taking the drug were alive without cancer returning, compared to 53 percent of those on the placebo⁸. Severe side effects were a little more common on Tagrisso. They included patients feeling tired and reddish skin in the mouth or around the nails.

U.S. health officials have approved Tagrisso for use in treating advanced lung cancer, and "the excitement now is moving this earlier" before the disease has widely spread, noted¹⁰ Herbst.

The drug costs about $15,000 a month.

Prostate cancer

Men with advanced prostate cancer often are treated with medicines to block male hormones¹² that can help the cancer grow. The drugs are injected as shots in the arm every few months but take days or weeks to start working. They can also cause bone pain and other problems.

An experimental drug called relugolix is a different kind of hormone¹¹ blocker and the first meant for use as a daily pill. The drug is a product of Myovant Sciences. Researchers tested it against shots of the drug leuprolide, an injectable man-made hormone, every three months in 930 men. They were treated for nearly a year.

The company reports that about 97 percent on the experimental drug kept hormones blocked throughout that time, compared to 89 percent on leuprolide. Four days after the start of treatment, 56% of men on relugolix and none on leuprolide had hormones blocked.

Three percent of the men taking relugolix experienced a serious heart problem, such as a heart attack or stroke. That compares to six percent of the men on leuprolide. The difference was even greater among men who suffered heart problems earlier.

Myovant is seeking approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the drug.

Colon cancer

Merck & Company manufactures Keytruda, an experimental drug, that helps the body's natural defense¹³ system find and fight cancer. Keytruda proved better than traditional chemotherapy treatments for people with advanced colon cancer and tumors with gene defects that result in a high number of mutations.

The study involved 307 patients in France. Those given Keytruda went more than 16 months on average before their cancer worsened. That compares with 8 months for those taking chemotherapy treatments. After a year, 55 percent on Keytruda were alive without worsening cancer compared to 37 percent on chemotherapy. After two years, the rate was 48 percent versus¹⁴ nearly 19 percent.

About 22% of people getting Keytruda had severe side effects compared to 66% on chemotherapy.

The Associated Press adds that Keytruda costs about $12,500 a month.

I'm Jonathan Evans.

1 colon   

n.冒号，结肠，直肠

参考例句：

• Here,too,the colon must be followed by a dash.这里也是一样，应当在冒号后加破折号。
• The colon is the locus of a large concentration of bacteria.结肠是大浓度的细菌所在地。

2 mutation   

n.变化，变异，转变

参考例句：

• People who have this mutation need less sleep than others.有这种突变的人需要的睡眠比其他人少。
• So far the discussion has centered entirely around mutation in the strict sense.到目前为止，严格来讲，讨论完全集中于围绕突变问题上。

3 gene   

n.遗传因子，基因

参考例句：

• A single gene may have many effects.单一基因可能具有很多种效应。
• The targeting of gene therapy has been paid close attention.其中基因治疗的靶向性是值得密切关注的问题之一。

4 genes   

n.基因( gene的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• You have good genes from your parents, so you should live a long time. 你从父母那儿获得优良的基因，所以能够活得很长。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Differences will help to reveal the functions of the genes. 它们间的差异将会帮助我们揭开基因多种功能。 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 生物技术的世纪

5 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

6 tumor   

n.（肿）瘤，肿块(英)tumour

参考例句：

• He was died of a malignant tumor.他死于恶性肿瘤。
• The surgeons irradiated the tumor.外科医生用X射线照射那个肿瘤。

7 genetic   

adj.遗传的，遗传学的

参考例句：

• It's very difficult to treat genetic diseases.遗传性疾病治疗起来很困难。
• Each daughter cell can receive a full complement of the genetic information.每个子细胞可以收到遗传信息的一个完全补偿物。

8 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

9 placebos   

n.（给无实际治疗需要者的）安慰剂( placebo的名词复数 )；安慰物；宽心话；（试验药物用的）无效对照剂

参考例句：

• But, eventually, I think they were just kind of like placebos. 但是后来，我想它们只是安慰剂（安慰剂：没有任何药效的药） 来自电影对白
• But comparable numbers of those who received placebos also improved. 但是吃安慰剂的人的病情也改善了。 来自互联网

10 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

11 hormone   

n.荷尔蒙，激素，内分泌

参考例句：

• Hormone implants are used as growth boosters.激素植入物被用作生长辅助剂。
• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body.这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。

12 hormones   

n. 荷尔蒙，激素 名词hormone的复数形式

参考例句：

• This hormone interacts closely with other hormones in the body. 这种荷尔蒙与体內其他荷尔蒙紧密地相互作用。
• The adrenals produce a large per cent of a man's sex hormones. 肾上腺分泌人体的大部分性激素。

13 defense   

n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩

参考例句：

• The accused has the right to defense.被告人有权获得辩护。
• The war has impacted the area with military and defense workers.战争使那个地区挤满了军队和防御工程人员。

14 versus   

prep.以…为对手，对；与…相比之下

参考例句：

• The big match tonight is England versus Spain.今晚的大赛是英格兰对西班牙。
• The most exciting game was Harvard versus Yale.最富紧张刺激的球赛是哈佛队对耶鲁队。