《经济学人》双语：“世界药房”印度没有药神？

原文标题：
Indian drugmakers
A bitter syrup
The world’s pharmacy faces fresh accusations of corner-cutting
印度制药商
苦糖浆
世界药房面临着新投机取巧的指控

A scandal rocks India’s pharmaceutical industry
Can the world’s pharmacy escape a reputation for poor quality control?
一桩丑闻撼动了印度制药业
世界药房能摆脱质量控制不佳的坏名声吗？

[Paragraph 1]
IT IS THE stuff of parental nightmares. Between July and October 70 children in Gambia died of kidney failure. In December 18 perished in Uzbekistan from renal problems and acute respiratory disease.

这是父母的噩梦。7月至10月，冈比亚有70名儿童死于肾衰竭。12月，乌兹别克斯坦有18名儿童死于因肾脏问题和急性呼吸道疾病。

In both cases Indian-made cough syrups may have been at fault, according to allegations by a Gambian parliamentary committee and the Uzbek authorities.
根据冈比亚议会委员会和乌兹别克斯坦当局的指控，在这两起案件中，印度制造的止咳糖浆可能都有问题。

[Paragraph 2]
The manufacturer in the Uzbek case, Marion Biotech, has been suspended from Pharmexcil, an Indian government-linked trade group that plays a role in pharmaceutical exports; the firm’s website appears to be down.

乌兹别克斯坦案件中的制造商“马立昂生技”已被Pharmexil停止制药生产活动，且公司网站似乎已关闭。Pharmexil是印度政府关联的贸易集团，在药品出口中发挥重要作用。

An executive for Maiden Pharma, which produced the medicine used in Gambia, told an Indian newspaper that the company was shocked and saddened by the deaths.

冈比亚案件中的药商Maiden Pharma公司的高管对印度报纸说，本公司对死亡事件感到震惊和悲伤。

The firm posted a report on its Facebook page claiming that a government drug-testing lab in India had found its syrup to be problem-free; unpersuaded Gambian parliamentarians recommended that Maiden should be prosecuted.

该公司在其Facebook页面上发布了一份声明，称印度的政府药物检测实验室发现本公司糖浆没有问题；冈比亚议员们不相信这套说辞，并建议起诉Maiden公司。

Neither firm responded to The Economist’s requests for comment.
涉案两家公司都没有回应本报的置评请求。

[Paragraph 3]
Both companies are small and privately held. A causal link between their products and the deaths has not been proved.

这两家公司都是小型私人控股企业。他们的产品与死亡之间的因果关系尚未得到证实。

Sample tests in India have so far cleared Maiden of blame; an investigation of Marion has just begun.

到目前为止，印度的样本测试已经消除了Maiden公司的责任；而对马里昂公司的调查才刚刚开始。

Yet the incidents have touched a raw nerve in India’s vast pharmaceutical industry, where around 10,000 factories operated by 3,000 firms churn out nearly $50bn-worth of drugs a year, accounting for 20% of the world’s and 40% of America’s generics supply by value.
然而，这些事件触动了印度庞大制药业的神经，3000家公司经营着1万家工厂，每年生产价值近500亿美元的药品，占全球仿制药供应量的20%及美国仿制药供应量的40%。

[Paragraph 4]
The world’s pharmacy, as India’s drugmakers like to call themselves, is no stranger to scandal.

印度制药商喜欢自称为“世界药房”，但丑闻屡见不鲜。

In 2022 America’s Food and Drug Administration issued “import alerts” to four large Indian companies.

2022年，美国食品和药物管理局对四家大型印度公司发布了“进口警告”。

Such notifications, which usually follow inspections of foreign factories, could lead to exports to America being blocked without physical evidence that a particular shipment is bad.
此类通知通常是FDA对外国工厂进行检查之后发出的，可能在没有具体证据证明某批货物是坏的情况下，导致出口到美国的产品受阻。

[Paragraph 5]
Concerns about corner-cutting and poor quality control are the long-standing flip-side of the rock-bottom prices that have fuelled the industry’s rise in India in the past few decades.

过去几十年里，药物最低价加速了印度制药业的崛起，然而这背后是长期以来的偷工减料和质量控制不力。

In a new book, “The Truth Pill: The Myth of Drug Regulation in India”, Dinesh Singh Thakur, a former industry executive, and Prashant Reddy, a lawyer, document at least five cases of dangerous medications entering the market, each causing multiple fatalities, since the 1970s.

在一本新书《仿制药的真相：印度没有药神》中，前业内高管迪内什·辛格·塔库尔和律师普拉尚特·雷迪记录了自20世纪70年代以来，至少5起危险药物进入市场的案例，每起案例都造成多人死亡。

In many more instances shabby manufacturing methods could lead to medicines that are ineffective.

在许多情况下，劣质制造方法可能导致药物失效。

These shortcomings are obscured by a complex and opaque inspection regime, says Mr Reddy.

雷迪表示，这些缺点被复杂而不透明的检查制度所掩盖。

Concerns aired by critics like him and Mr Thakur are often ignored—or met with threatening legal notices from the government for supposedly tarnishing the domestic industry’s reputation.
像他和塔库尔这样的批评者担忧的声音经常被忽视--或者因所谓的玷污了国内制药业的声誉而收到政府威胁性的法律通告。

[Paragraph 6]
The government’s initial response to the latest tragedies has been lethargic and has lacked a detailed public examination of the relevant supply chains, says Mr Reddy.

雷迪先生说，政府对最新悲剧事件的最初反应很迟钝，并且缺乏对相关供应链的详细公开审查。

History offers little hope of a swift conclusion. One case in Mumbai, which involved the deaths of 14 people in a big hospital in 1988, is still being litigated.

历史表明这类事件几乎不可能迅速结案。例如孟买的一起案件，1988年一家大医院涉及14人死亡，目前仍在诉讼中。

Such foot-dragging risks the lives of more patients. It also ultimately harms India’s drugmakers, whose health is inextricably bound up with that of their customers.
这种拖延行为会危及更多患者的生命。最终这也会害了印度制药商，因为他们的健康发展与客户的健康密不可分。

（恭喜读完，本篇英语词汇量560左右）
原文出自：2023年1月7日《The Economist》Business版块。

精读笔记来源于：自由英语之路

本文翻译整理: Irene本文编辑校对: Irene
仅供个人英语学习交流使用。

【补充资料】（来自于网络）
印度被称为世界药房，目前印度已经是世界上最大的仿制药出口国。有媒体报道，印度生产了全球20%的仿制药，并使制药业成为印度经济的支柱之一，坐拥着价值420亿美元的制药产业。目前，印度药品出口到200多个国家，疫苗和生物制药产品出口到150个国家。印度的仿制药60%以上出口到美欧日等发达国家。

印度药品出口促进委员会30日因Doc-1 Max制造商马立昂生技（Marion Biotech）未能于期限内提供相关信息而将其许可证吊销。继冈比亚传出多名孩童疑因服用印度制感冒糖浆丧生后，至少19名乌兹别克斯坦儿童去年底在服用印度Doc-1 Max止咳糖浆后死亡。
 
【重点句子】（3 个）
 Yet the incidents have touched a raw nerve in India’s vast pharmaceutical industry.
然而，这些事件触动了印度庞大制药业的神经。

Concerns about corner-cutting and poor quality control are the long-standing flip-side of the rock-bottom prices that have fuelled the industry’s rise in India in the past few decades.
过去几十年里，药物最低价加速了印度制药业的崛起，然而这背后是长期以来的偷工减料和质量控制不力。

Such foot-dragging risks the lives of more patients. It also ultimately harms India’s drugmakers, whose health is inextricably bound up with that of their customers.
这种拖延行为会危及更多患者的生命。最终这也会害了印度制药商，因为他们的健康发展与客户的健康密不可分。