英法制藥巨頭聯手研發新冠疫苗 明年或大量上市

全球最大的兩家疫苗公司英國葛蘭素史克公司和法國賽諾菲集團正合作研發新冠肺炎疫苗，或將在數月後開始人體試驗。如果試驗獲得成功，疫苗將在2021年下半年大量投放市場。

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

世界上最大的兩家疫苗公司展開“前所未有”的合作，聯手研發新冠肺炎疫苗。

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.

英國葛蘭素史克公司和法國賽諾菲集團正在合作研發一種高科技疫苗，這兩家公司加起來擁有世界上最大規模疫苗生產能力。兩家公司稱，這種疫苗可能在數月後開始進行人體試驗。

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.

這一合作意義重大，因爲一旦成功，兩家公司有能力生產出全世界可能需要的數億劑疫苗。

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

葛蘭素史克首席執行官埃瑪·沃姆斯利稱，這一合作“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.”

她說：“世界上最大的兩家疫苗生產商走到一起，這並不常見。二者都會帶來巨大的生產能力。我們相信，到明年年底，我們將能夠生產出數億劑（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.”

賽諾菲首席執行官保羅·赫德森說：“在世界面臨這一前所未有的全球性衛生危機之際，顯然沒有任何一家企業能夠單打獨鬥。正因爲如此，賽諾菲將繼續與葛蘭素史克等同行企業互相補充專業技能和資源，目標是生產和供應足夠數量的疫苗，從而幫助遏制新冠病毒。”

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.

總部位於法國的賽諾菲今年2月宣佈，它將加入生產疫苗的行列，並已獲得美國衛生部門的支持。

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.

葛蘭素史克已經在向規模較小的團隊提供技術，比如澳大利亞昆士蘭大學的疫苗項目，但與賽諾菲的合作是首次能夠快速提升生產規模的合作。

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.

兩家公司在疫苗研發領域展開合作而不是競爭，這是極其罕見的。不過，對於新冠疫苗的迫切需求和市場的潛在規模也並不常見。

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

兩家公司合作研發的這種疫苗將基於賽諾菲用於生產流感疫苗的現有脫氧核糖核酸（DNA）技術。

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.

當新冠病毒入侵人體時，免疫細胞通過產生抗體進行反擊。這些抗體會與外來入侵者身上的特定結構結合在一起，這些特定結構被稱爲抗原。就新冠病毒而言，抗原是其表面的一種刺突狀蛋白。

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.

賽諾菲合成出了一種對這種蛋白的基因序列進行編碼的DNA片段。當這段DNA被植入實驗室裏的一種無害細菌時，它會產生大量微小的抗原副本，而不是活性新冠病毒本身。賽諾菲希望它們能夠在不引發疾病的情況下觸發抗體反應。

synthesize[ˈsɪnθəsaɪz]：vt.合成；綜合

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.

葛蘭素史克將貢獻一種被稱爲佐劑的附加物質。它可以與疫苗混合，引發更加強烈的免疫反應。這種技術也曾應用於甲型H1N1流感的疫苗研發。

adjuvant['ædʒʊv(ə)nt]：n.佐藥；輔助物

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.

本週二（4月14日），沃姆斯利表示，葛蘭素史克不會在新冠疫情期間從疫苗中獲利，所有收入都將用於擴大生產規模和疫情應對相關研究。

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.

兩家公司計劃在今年下半年開始第一階段臨牀試驗，並表示，一旦試驗取得成功，這種疫苗可能會在2021年下半年大量投放市場。