英法制药巨头联手研发新冠疫苗

全球最大的两家疫苗公司英国葛兰素史克公司和法国赛诺菲集团正合作研发新冠肺炎疫苗，或将在数月后开始人体试验。如果试验获得成功，疫苗将在2021年下半年大量投放市场。

 

Two of the world’s biggest vaccine companies have joined forces in an “unprecedented” collaboration to develop a Covid-19 vaccine.

世界上最大的两家疫苗公司展开“前所未有”的合作，联手研发新冠肺炎疫苗。

 

 

 

GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, which combined have the largest vaccine manufacturing capability in the world, are working together on a hi-tech vaccine they say could be in human trials within months.

英国葛兰素史克公司和法国赛诺菲集团正在合作研发一种高科技疫苗，这两家公司加起来拥有世界上最大规模疫苗生产能力。两家公司称，这种疫苗可能在数月后开始进行人体试验。

 

The pairing is significant because, if successful, the two companies have the capacity to manufacture the hundreds of millions of doses that are likely to be required worldwide.

这一合作意义重大，因为一旦成功，两家公司有能力生产出全世界可能需要的数亿剂疫苗。

 

Emma Walmsley, the chief executive of GSK, described the collaboration as “unprecedented”.

葛兰素史克首席执行官埃玛·沃姆斯利称，这一合作“前所未有”。

 

She said: “What is not common is you’ve got two of the biggest vaccine manufacturers in the world coming together. Both bring significant manufacturing capacity. We believe we’ll be able to make hundreds of millions of doses by the end of next year.”

她说：“世界上最大的两家疫苗生产商走到一起，这并不常见。二者都会带来巨大的生产能力。我们相信，到明年年底，我们将能够生产出数亿剂（疫苗）。”

 

Paul Hudson, the chief executive of Sanofi, said: “As the world faces this unprecedented global health crisis, it is clear that no one company can go it alone. That is why Sanofi is continuing to complement its expertise and resources with our peers, such as GSK, with the goal to create and supply sufficient quantities of vaccines that will help stop this virus.”

赛诺菲首席执行官保罗·赫德森说：“在世界面临这一前所未有的全球性卫生危机之际，显然没有任何一家企业能够单打独斗。正因为如此，赛诺菲将继续与葛兰素史克等同行企业互相补充专业技能和资源，目标是生产和供应足够数量的疫苗，从而帮助遏制新冠病毒。”

 

Sanofi, which is headquartered in France, announced in February that it was entering the race to make a vaccine and had secured support from the US health department.

总部位于法国的赛诺菲今年2月宣布，它将加入生产疫苗的行列，并已获得美国卫生部门的支持。

 

GSK is already offering access to its technology to smaller teams, such as a vaccine effort at the University of Queensland, but this is the first collaboration that would have the ability to rapidly scale up manufacturing.

葛兰素史克已经在向规模较小的团队提供技术，比如澳大利亚昆士兰大学的疫苗项目，但与赛诺菲的合作是首次能够快速提升生产规模的合作。

 

Two companies joining forces, rather than competing, in a vaccine effort is extremely unusual, but the urgent need for a Covid-19 vaccine and the potential scale of the market is also not a typical situation.

两家公司在疫苗研发领域展开合作而不是竞争，这是极其罕见的。不过，对于新冠疫苗的迫切需求和市场的潜在规模也并不常见。

 

The vaccine is based on an existing DNA-based technology that Sanofi uses to make its flu vaccine.

两家公司合作研发的这种疫苗将基于赛诺菲用于生产流感疫苗的现有脱氧核糖核酸（DNA）技术。

 

 

 

When the coronavirus invades the body, immune cells fight back by producing antibodies. These antibodies bind to specific structures on the foreign invader, called the antigen. In the case of Covid-19 the antigen is a spike-like protein on its exterior.

当新冠病毒入侵人体时，免疫细胞通过产生抗体进行反击。这些抗体会与外来入侵者身上的特定结构结合在一起，这些特定结构被称为抗原。就新冠病毒而言，抗原是其表面的一种刺突状蛋白。

 

Sanofi has synthesized a stretch of DNA that encodes the genetic sequence of that protein. When this DNA is inserted into a harmless bacteria in the lab, it churns out little copies of the antigen - but not of the active coronavirus itself - which it hopes will trigger an antibody response, without causing illness.

赛诺菲合成出了一种对这种蛋白的基因序列进行编码的DNA片段。当这段DNA被植入实验室里的一种无害细菌时，它会产生大量微小的抗原副本，而不是活性新冠病毒本身。赛诺菲希望它们能够在不引发疾病的情况下触发抗体反应。

 

GSK is contributing an add-on, known as an adjuvant, that can be mixed in with a vaccine to trigger a stronger immune reaction. The same technology was used in the H1N1 flu pandemic.

葛兰素史克将贡献一种被称为佐剂的附加物质。它可以与疫苗混合，引发更加强烈的免疫反应。这种技术也曾应用于甲型H1N1流感的疫苗研发。

 

On Tuesday, Walmsley said GSK would not profit from the vaccine during the pandemic and that any revenue would be reinvested in scaling up manufacturing and into research on pandemic preparedness.

本周二（4月14日），沃姆斯利表示，葛兰素史克不会在新冠疫情期间从疫苗中获利，所有收入都将用于扩大生产规模和疫情应对相关研究。

 

The companies plan to start phase one trials in the second half of this year and, if successful, say the vaccine could be widely available by the second half of 2021.

两家公司计划在今年下半年开始第一阶段临床试验，并表示，一旦试验取得成功，这种疫苗可能会在2021年下半年大量投放市场。