全球癌症药品年度开支创纪录

Global annual spending on cancer drugs has hit $100bn for the first time as the pharmaceuticals industry prepares to launch a fresh generation of treatments that promise to push costs even higher.

全球用于癌症药物的年度开支首次达到1000亿美元大关。与此同时，制药产业正准备推出新一代癌症治疗方案，这些治疗方案势必进一步推升治疗成本。

The record 2017 figure marks a 10 per cent increase from a year earlier, largely because of rising drug prices and increased incidence of cancer.

比起前一年，2017年这一创纪录的开支增长了10%。在很大程度上，这一增幅是药品价格攀升及癌症发病率增加导致的。

The data, from the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, a respected US research organisation, comes at a time of growing excitement among medics and investors over new cancer drugs heralded as the biggest step forward in oncology for decades.

该数据由著名的美国研究机构艾美仕医疗保健信息研究所(IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics)发布。就在艾美仕发布这一数据之际，越来越多的医生及投资者正在为新的癌症药物欢欣鼓舞。这批新的药物被誉为肿瘤医学界数十年来的最大进展。

Merck & Co, Bristol-Myers Squibb, Roche and AstraZeneca are among those developing so-called cancer immunotherapies that harness the body’s immune system to fight tumours.

在开发这种所谓癌症免疫疗法的公司中，默克集团(Merck & Co)、百时美施贵宝(Bristol-Myers Squibb)、罗氏(Roche)及阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)赫然在列。这种免疫疗法的原理，是利用机体的免疫力对抗癌细胞。

The earliest of these have been launched in the US in recent months at prices amounting to about $150,000 a year — generating fresh optimism around the pharmaceuticals industry after a decade of sluggish growth.

这种治疗方法最早于最近几个月在美国推出，其价格总计为一年约15万美元。对于经历了十年增长乏力的制药业来说，这一天价方案催生了新的乐观情绪。

However, the expected surge of expensive new cancer drugs has raised questions over their affordability for healthcare systems already struggling with the rising cost of caring for an ageing world population.

然而，昂贵的癌症新药如期涌现，也引发了大量质疑：面对全球人口老龄化而导致的成本上升，已经不堪重负的医疗系统还能否负担起这些新药。

“Earlier diagnosis, longer treatment duration and increased effectiveness of drug therapies are contributing to rising levels of spending on medicines for cancer,” said the IMS report.

艾美仕报告表示：“诊断时间提前、治疗时期延长、以及药物治疗有效性增加，都在助推癌症药物开支的增加。”

The compound annual growth rate in cancer drug spending increased to 6.5 per cent over the past five years and this was forecast by IMS to rise further to 6-8 per cent between now and 2018 as new treatments arrive.

过去五年里，癌症药物开支的复合年增长率增至6.5%。据艾美仕预测，随着新治疗方案的问世，从现在起到2018年期间，这一增长率将进一步增加，且有望增加到8%。

“New therapeutic classes and combination therapies will change the cancer landscape over the next several years,” the report said.

该报告称：“今后几年，新的治疗门类及组合治疗方案将改变癌症治疗领域的格局。”