【双语阅读】减肥商品.

　　肥胖症对某些人来说是传染病，对别的一些人来说则是机遇。 超过三分之二的美国人已经超重。 找个办法和肥胖对抗，说必定就此大赚一笔。 2月22日，Vivus制药公司朝着这个目标前进了一步。 给美国食品药物管理局做咨询的一家委员会推荐，Vivus公司的减肥药Qnexa。 但是，如果获得批准，该药品的漫长的最终肯定直到四月份才会到来。公告主要是提醒人们，这是一场点肥成金的抗争。

　　Business

　　Diet products

　　A big, bad business

　　Medical firms struggle to profit from weight-loss treatments

　　OBESITY is an epidemic to some and an opportunity to others. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Find a way to battle the bulge and a huge profit might be made. On February 22nd one pharmaceutical firm, Vivus, took a small step towards this goal. A committee advising America&aposs Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that it approve Vivus&aposs diet drug, Qnexa. However, the pill&aposs long-awaited final approval may not come until April, if at all. The announcement mostly served as a reminder of what a struggle it is to turn fat into gold.

　　Pharmaceutical and medical-device companies are quite good at treating the conditions that come with obesity. However, they are dismal at helping consumers lose weight. This is not for lack of trying. Take the curious case of the gastric band. Bariatric surgery can lead to weight loss in the long term. Hospitals can make money from all bariatric procedures, including gastric bypasses (in which the stomach is partitioned and the upper part connected directly to the small intestine), but the gastric band is a rare example of an opportunity for device-makers to profit from weight loss. Allergan, best known for selling Botox, has tried to use its Lap-Band to tap the obesity market. It is an inflatable loop which the surgeon fits near the top of the stomach, which helps the patient feel sated earlier.

　　Allergan has captured about 70% of the worldwide market for gastric bands and balloons, but sales are now shrinking. The recession has sapped consumers&apos desire for expensive surgery. Some patients have had bands removed because they slipped or proved infective. Last year the FDA approved the Lap-Band&aposs use in patients who are only slightly overweight, but insurers have rused to pay. In January David Pyott, Allergan&aposs chi executive, said he would scrap an fort to market the band for teenagers. He is now trying to convince insurers of Lap-Band&aposs merits, arguing that the $20,000 surgery is recouped in saved medical costs within four years. There is some scepticism about his chances of success: "The fact that banding is not as good as bypass has been known by everybody except the PR firms for the band," says Lee Kaplan, director of the Weight Centre at Massachusetts General Hospital.

　　Drug companies have had even more trouble than device-makers. It has been 13 years since the FDA approved a prescription diet pill. That drug, Roche&aposs Xenical, has notorious gastrointestinal side-fects. The FDA rejected Vivus&aposs Qnexa in 2010 over concerns for the safety of pregnant women and the quickening of patients&apos heart rates. Vivus&aposs new data apparently satisfied the FDA&aposs advisory committee.

　　However, the agency may yet reject the drug. Even if Qnexa is approved, it is unclear that patients will buy it. Qnexa combines two treatments that are already on the market. Both medicines are generic, which means that doctors may prescribe the existing drugs rather than Qnexa&aposs more expensive version. For now, it is more profitable to treat fat patients than to try to make them slim.

　　【中文对照翻译】

　　商业

　　减肥商品

　　点肥成金不现实

　　制药公司试图从减肥治疗中获利

　　肥胖症对某些人来说是传染病，对别的一些人来说则是机遇。 超过三分之二的美国人已经超重。 找个办法和肥胖对抗，说必定就此大赚一笔。 2月22日，Vivus制药公司朝着这个目标前进了一步。 给美国食品药物管理局做咨询的一家委员会推荐，Vivus公司的减肥药Qnexa。 但是，如果获得批准，该药品的漫长的最终肯定直到四月份才会到来。 公告主要是提醒人们，这是一场点肥成金的抗争。

　　制药和医疗器械公司非常善于解决肥胖带来的问题。 但是他们无法帮助消费者战胜肥胖本身，减少体重。 这不是因为缺乏尝试。 以古怪的胃部束带为例。 肥胖治疗手术可以帮助患者在较长的时间内减少体重。 医院就是从这些减肥疗程中赚钱，包括胃绕道手术(手术中，胃被切割，直接把上部跟小肠连接起来)， 但是胃部束带却是一个罕见的例子，被当成一个器械制造商用来从减肥中赚钱的法子。 Allergan公司以销售肉毒杆菌而出名，尝试用产品Lap-Band打入减肥市场。 Lap-Band是一圈松紧带，外科医生可以用它绕住患者胃的上部，这样患者会提前有腹饱感。

　　Allergan公司在全球胃部束带和充气袋市场占有率达70%，但是如今销量却有所下降。 经济不景气让消费者忍住做昂贵的手术的欲望。 有些病人甚至连束带也不用了，因为束带打滑或者没有效果。 去年，美国食品药物管理局同意，微超重病人使用 Lap-Band，但是保险公司却拒绝付款。 一月份，Allergan公司首席执行官David Pyott说，他将放弃在年轻人束带市场的努力。 他目前试图让保险公司也看到Lap-Band的优点，他认为两万美元手术费可以在四年之内通过减少医疗支出收回。 至今仍有人怀疑他是否能成功： “事实上使用束带不必胃绕道手术好，所有人都知道，除了束带的公关公司，”马萨诸塞州中心医院体重中心主任Lee Kaplan如是说。

　　制药公司的麻烦甚至比医疗器械公司的还要多。 从美国食品药物管理局批准减肥药为处方药到如今已经过了十三年。 瑞士罗氏制药公司的Xenical臭名昭著，该药会引发胃肠功能的副作用。 美国食品药物管理局于2010年拒绝批准Vivus公司的Qnexa，因为担心该药对孕妇的安全造成伤害，担心该药会加快患者的心率。 Vivus公司新的数据显然让管理局的咨询委员会满意。

　　但是该局还是可能拒绝批准该药。 就算Qnexa获得批准，患者会不会买账仍不明了。 Qnexa结合了两种市面上上有的疗效。 这两种药物都是非专利药，这说明医生可能会给患者开已有的药而不选择Qnexa，后者更贵。 到目前为止，治疗肥胖患者还是要比让他们减肥更有利可图。

　　肥胖症对某些人来说是传染病，对别的一些人来说则是机遇。 超过三分之二的美国人已经超重。 找个办法和肥胖对抗，说必定就此大赚一笔。 2月22日，Vivus制药公司朝着这个目标前进了一步。 给美国食品药物管理局做咨询的一家委员会推荐，Vivus公司的减肥药Qnexa。 但是，如果获得批准，该药品的漫长的最终肯定直到四月份才会到来。公告主要是提醒人们，这是一场点肥成金的抗争。

　　Business

　　Diet products

　　A big, bad business

　　Medical firms struggle to profit from weight-loss treatments

　　OBESITY is an epidemic to some and an opportunity to others. More than two-thirds of Americans are overweight. Find a way to battle the bulge and a huge profit might be made. On February 22nd one pharmaceutical firm, Vivus, took a small step towards this goal. A committee advising America&aposs Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recommended that it approve Vivus&aposs diet drug, Qnexa. However, the pill&aposs long-awaited final approval may not come until April, if at all. The announcement mostly served as a reminder of what a struggle it is to turn fat into gold.

　　Pharmaceutical and medical-device companies are quite good at treating the conditions that come with obesity. However, they are dismal at helping consumers lose weight. This is not for lack of trying. Take the curious case of the gastric band. Bariatric surgery can lead to weight loss in the long term. Hospitals can make money from all bariatric procedures, including gastric bypasses (in which the stomach is partitioned and the upper part connected directly to the small intestine), but the gastric band is a rare example of an opportunity for device-makers to profit from weight loss. Allergan, best known for selling Botox, has tried to use its Lap-Band to tap the obesity market. It is an inflatable loop which the surgeon fits near the top of the stomach, which helps the patient feel sated earlier.

　　Allergan has captured about 70% of the worldwide market for gastric bands and balloons, but sales are now shrinking. The recession has sapped consumers&apos desire for expensive surgery. Some patients have had bands removed because they slipped or proved infective. Last year the FDA approved the Lap-Band&aposs use in patients who are only slightly overweight, but insurers have rused to pay. In January David Pyott, Allergan&aposs chi executive, said he would scrap an fort to market the band for teenagers. He is now trying to convince insurers of Lap-Band&aposs merits, arguing that the $20,000 surgery is recouped in saved medical costs within four years. There is some scepticism about his chances of success: "The fact that banding is not as good as bypass has been known by everybody except the PR firms for the band," says Lee Kaplan, director of the Weight Centre at Massachusetts General Hospital.

　　Drug companies have had even more trouble than device-makers. It has been 13 years since the FDA approved a prescription diet pill. That drug, Roche&aposs Xenical, has notorious gastrointestinal side-fects. The FDA rejected Vivus&aposs Qnexa in 2010 over concerns for the safety of pregnant women and the quickening of patients&apos heart rates. Vivus&aposs new data apparently satisfied the FDA&aposs advisory committee.

　　However, the agency may yet reject the drug. Even if Qnexa is approved, it is unclear that patients will buy it. Qnexa combines two treatments that are already on the market. Both medicines are generic, which means that doctors may prescribe the existing drugs rather than Qnexa&aposs more expensive version. For now, it is more profitable to treat fat patients than to try to make them slim.

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