每天一篇经济学人 | More cash, stat 更多的现金，统计！（...

Three years ago no one had heard of BioNTech. Today the German biotechnology firm enjoys global renown, as well as annual revenues of $19bn. The company owes both the lustre and the lucre chiefly to the successful mrna covid-19 vaccine which it developed in partnership with Pfizer, an American drug giant. Yet even the effective jab has not immunised it from a downturn afflicting the biotech industry. On August 8th BioNTech reported that sales fell by 40% in the second quarter, year on year, as fewer people are left unjabbed and unboosted. Its share price tumbled by nearly 9%.

【1】lustre 荣光

【2】lucre 钱财

三年前，没有人听说过BioNTech。如今，这家德国生物技术公司享誉全球，其年收入高达190亿美元。该公司的辉煌和利润主要归功于它与美国制药巨头辉瑞公司合作成功开发的mRNA covid-19疫苗。然而，即使疫苗有效，也不能使其免受生物技术行业低迷的影响。8月8日BioNTech报告称，其第二季度销售额同比下降了40%，因为没有接种疫苗以及没有打加强针的人越来越少。其股价暴跌近9%。

The biotech industry is particularly vulnerable to the syndrome of slowing economic growth, higher inflation and rising interest rates. As with other tech startups, rate rises make promised profits, most of which lie far in the future, look less hale today. Unlike software firms, biotech companies need constant injections of capital to develop their drugs, which takes lots of time and money. 

生物技术行业尤其容易受到经济增长放缓、高通胀和利率上升的影响。与其他科技初创公司一样，利率上升使得承诺的利润(其中大部分要在遥远的未来才能实现)如今看起来不那么诱人了。与软件公司不同，生物技术公司需要不断注入资金来开发药物，这需要大量的时间和金钱。

Until recently that money was easy to tap. Biotech startups raised $34bn globally last year, twice the figure in 2020. In the first six months of 2021, 61 such firms launched initial public offerings (ipos) in America alone. Since then cash has grown scarcer. The first half of 2022 saw just 14 American ipos. None of the 24 startups that Silicon Valley Bank, a lender to techie companies, expected to go public this year has made the jump. Funding for private biotech businesses is down, too. Banks are reluctant to lend to early-stage firms, whose fate is tied to treatments that might never materialise. 

【1】make sb jump 促使某人行动

直到最近，这些资金都很容易获得。去年，生物技术初创公司在全球融资340亿美元，是2020年的两倍。在2021年的前六个月，仅在美国就有61家这样的公司上市。从那时起，现金变得越来越稀缺。2022年上半年，只有14家美国公司上市。为科技公司提供贷款的硅谷银行，预计今年有24家初创公司上市，但是并没有一家公司有行动。私有的生物技术企业的资金也在减少。银行不愿向处于早期阶段的公司提供贷款，因为这些公司的命运与可能永远无法实现的治疗方案联系在一起。

Many companies are shedding staff. This week Atara and MacroGenics, two medium-sized public firms, announced big layoffs. An index of biotech companies listed on New York’s Nasdaq exchange has fallen by a quarter since its peak a year ago, further than the sliding nasdaq index overall. Valuations of unlisted companies are dropping faster than ever, says Lain Anderson of L.E.K. Consulting. Not all will pull through.

【1】裁员的说法：shed staff / layoff

【2】pull through  (from illness) «patient» 挺过来 ; (from difficulty) «person» 熬过来

许多公司都在裁员。本周，两家中型上市公司Atara和MacroGenics宣布大规模裁员。在纽约纳斯达克交易所上市的生物技术公司指数自一年前达到峰值以来已经下跌了四分之一，其跌幅超过了纳斯达克指数的整体跌幅。艾意凯咨询公司的莱恩•安德森表示，未上市公司的估值下降速度比以往任何时候都要快。并非所有公司都能渡过难关。

As non-specialist investors swept up in the pandemic biotech boom retreat, more discerning ones are sharpening their pencils. Some companies suddenly look cheap, especially those with proven treatments or drugs in late-stage trials. Venture-capital firms have raised over $100bn to invest in life-sciences businesses in the past three years, notes Tim Haines of Abingworth, a biotech-focused asset manager. They still have plenty of unspent “dry powder” to deploy. 

【1】to be swept up in; 沉醉于

【2】Sharpen your pencil. 谈判做生意时，委婉的告诉对方：我知道你成本多少，给我个好折扣，要不这买卖就算了。

随着那些沉迷于疫情生物技术热潮的非专业投资者的撤退，那些更有洞察力的投资者开始“谈判”。一些公司突然看起来很便宜，尤其是那些治疗方法已被证实或药物处于后期试验阶段的公司。专注于生物技术的资产管理公司Abingworth的蒂姆•海恩斯指出，在过去的三年里，风投公司已经筹集了超过1000亿美元用于投资生命科学行业。他们仍有大量未用完的可动用的“闲置资金”。

Big pharma in particular may be eyeing up biotech startups with promising drug pipelines. The giants will see some $300bn-worth of patents expire by 2030, says Mr Haines. Pfizer has been particularly acquisitive—and, thanks to the $37bn it earned last year from sales of its covid vaccines and treatments, particularly flush. On August 8th it agreed to pay $5.4bn for Global Blood Therapeutics, a maker of a treatment against sickle-cell disease, bringing its total takeovers to more than $25bn in the past 12 months.

大型制药公司可能会盯上那些有前途的生物技术初创公司。海恩斯表示，到2030年，这些巨头将有约3000亿美元的专利到期。辉瑞公司一直特别热衷于收购，而且得益于去年新冠疫苗和治疗药物销售收入达到370亿美元，其特别有钱。8月8日，该公司同意斥资54亿美元收购镰状细胞病治疗药物制造商全球血液治疗公司GBT，这使其在过去12个月的收购总额超过250亿美元。

As for Pfizer’s covid-vaccine partner, BioNTech, it is still worth five times what it was before the pandemic, despite a 50% crash in its market capitalisation since the peak a year ago. Don’t bring out the defibrillator just yet. 

至于辉瑞的新冠疫苗合作伙伴BioNTech，尽管其市值较一年前的峰值暴跌了50%，但其市值仍是大流行前的5倍。先别把“除颤器”拿出来。