A number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies, long known for being manufacturers of generic versions of Western medicines, are investing in the development of new drugs. One of them is a finalist in this year's Asian Innovation Awards.

　　中國制藥公司一直以生產普通西方藥物而為公眾所知，不過這些公司中也有很多開始投資研發新藥。其中一種藥物還入圍了本年度《亞洲華爾街日報》舉辦的“亞洲創新獎”(Asian Innovation Awards)決賽。

　　Hutchison Medipharma Ltd. says it has developed an oral drug using an herb called Andrographis paniculata for the treatment of two debilitating inflammatory bowel diseases, ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease.

　　和記黃埔醫藥(上海)有限公司(Hutchison Medipharma Ltd.，簡稱：和記黃埔醫藥)說，它用一種叫做穿心蓮的中草藥研制了一種口服藥物，用于治療兩種致人衰弱的發炎性腸道疾病：潰瘍性腸炎和克隆氏病(Crohn's disease)。

　　According to the company, the herb is traditionally used as a Chinese folklore remedy for a wide spectrum of ailments such as upper respiratory infections and common cold.

　　該公司表示，中國民間一般用穿心蓮來治療如上呼吸道感染和普通感冒等各種小病。

　　The company is a Shanghai-based research lab that is 60%-owned by Hutchison China Meditech Ltd., a subsidiary of Hong Kong billionaire Li Ka-shing's Hutchison Whampoa Ltd.

　　Hutchison Medipharma中國民間一般用穿心蓮來治療如上呼吸道感染和普通感冒等各種小病。和記黃埔醫藥是個總部位于上海的研究實驗室，其60%的股份為和黃中國醫藥科技有限公司(Hutchison China Meditech Ltd.)所持有，后者是香港億萬富豪李嘉誠旗下和記黃埔有限公司(Hutchison Whampoa Ltd)的子公司。

　　Hutchison estimates that bowel diseases, which cause a range of symptoms including abdominal pain, fever, fatigue, unintentional weight loss and ulcers, affect one million patients in the U.S.

　　據和記黃埔醫藥估計，美國有上百萬病人感染腸道疾病。這些腸道疾病可引發腹痛、發燒、渾身乏力、非自愿性體重減輕和潰瘍等一系列癥狀。

　　It also says existing treatments include drugs that aren't recommended for long-term use because of serious side effects such as acne and puffiness of the face. Some treatments are extremely expensive, ranging from $20,000 to $30,000 per year, the company says.

　　和記黃埔醫藥還說，目前不建議病人長期使用藥物等現有治療方法，因為它們會引起痤瘡和臉部浮腫等嚴重副作用。該公司說，有些治療方法還極為昂貴，一年的費用在2萬至3萬美元不等。

　　Hutchison is one of a number of Chinese pharmaceutical companies investing in new patents and in 'carrying out their own innovation' in a market where high research-and-development costs and failure rates have discouraged many from trying to innovate on their own, said Jiang Jiandong, director of the Institute of Materia Medica at the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences.

　　中國醫學科學院藥物研究所所長蔣建東說，和記黃埔是中國投資研發新專利和進行自我創新的眾多中國醫藥公司中的一個，很多公司因高研發成本和高失敗率而打消了努力創新的想法。

　　“Most Chinese pharmaceutical companies invest 1%, or at most 2%, of their revenue in research and development,” said Ren Jinsheng, the chairman of Nanjing-based, New York Stock Exchange-listed Simcere Pharmaceutical Group, which created a medicine called Endo, used to treat non-small cell lung cancer, the most common type of lung cancer.

　　在紐約證券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)上市的南京先聲藥業集團董事長任晉生說，大多數中國制藥公司在研發方面的投資占公司收入的比例僅為1%，至多2%。先聲藥業研發了一種名為恩度(Endo)的藥物，用來治療非小細胞性肺癌，這是最常見的一種肺癌。

　　Endo, which was developed with original research by Simcere's development team but doesn't contain herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine, had about $33.8 million in sales last year, said Mr. Ren, who added that his company invests 6% to 7% of its revenue.

　　恩度是利用先聲藥業開發團隊的原創研究開發的，但并不包含中藥所用的草藥。任晉生說，去年這種藥物的銷售額在3,380萬美元左右。他還說，公司用于研發的收入有6%到7%。

　　Mr. Jiang said companies like Simcere are few in China, making the nation far from being recognized globally in the pharmaceutical industry because inventions are largely limited to modifications to existing medicines.

　　蔣建東說，先聲藥業這樣的公司在中國很少，這使中國制藥行業遠未達到獲得國際認可的水平，因為研發主要是局限于對已有藥物的改良。

　　Meanwhile, Samantha Du, who founded Hutchison in 2002 hoping to become one of the few Chinese pharmaceutical research and development labs to create new, innovative medicines, believes the new drug, called HMPL-004, is “one of the first innovative, patented, world-class pharmaceutical” therapies to be “discovered and developed in China for use around the world.”

　　而和記黃埔醫藥創始人杜瑩(Samantha Du)相信，該公司名為“HMPL-004”的新藥將成為第一批在中國發現和開發、在全世界使用的創新的、受專利保護的、世界級的醫藥療法之一。杜瑩在2002年創辦和記黃埔醫藥，希望讓它成為中國少有的幾家開發新藥的醫藥研發實驗室之一。

　　A number of drugs using materials from Chinese herbs are sold outside China, including in Southeast Asia, Russia and the Middle East. But Hutchison says HMPL-004 breaks new ground because it is the first major development of traditional Chinese medicine into a Western oral prescription pharmaceutical, and that clinical trials in 2009 showed that the drug's effects are comparable to “extremely expensive biological pharmaceuticals” by large Western companies “without requiring an injection and without the related side effects.”

　　已有幾種使用中草藥材料的藥物在中國以外地區有售，包括東南亞、俄羅斯和中東。但和記黃埔醫藥公司說，HMPL-004具有突破性，因為它是中藥向西方口服處方藥的第一次重大轉變，2009年臨床試驗也表明，這種藥物的療效可比西方大公司極其昂貴的生物制藥，同時不需要注射，沒有相關副作用。

　　Ms. Du said Hutchison has been awarded a patent in the U.S., and is awaiting a decision on its Chinese patent application, filed last year.

　　杜瑩說，和記黃埔醫藥已在美國獲得了一項專利，去年在中國申請了專利，正在等待批準。

　　Initial trials of HMPL-004 have had positive reviews. Stephan Targan, director of the Inflammatory Bowel Disease Center and the Division of Gastroenterology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said that “as a natural oral product, it offers a promising treatment.”

　　HMPL-004的臨床試驗獲得了積極評價。洛杉磯雪松西奈醫療中心(Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)炎癥性腸病中心主任兼腸胃科主任塔爾甘(Stephan Targan)說，作為一種天然口服藥，它帶來了一種有希望的療法。

　　Ms. Du hopes the drug will pass U.S. Food and Drug Administration standards so it can be offered commercially as soon as in the next three years. It 'will have a lot of historical meaning,' she said.

　　杜瑩希望這種藥物能夠滿足美國食品藥品管理局(Food and Drug Administration)的標準，以便最早能在三年內實現商業化銷售。她說，它將具有很多歷史意義。