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A Chinese pharmaceutical company has received the green light from China’s State Food and Drug Administration to become the country’s first official producer of a homegrown version of Viagra, Pfizer’s famous erectile dysfunction drug.
一家中国制药公司已得到国家食品药品监督管理局批准，成为国内首家正式生产国产版本万艾可(Viagra)的厂家，万艾可是辉瑞公司(Pfizer)治疗勃起功能障碍的著名药物。
Pfizer’s patent on Viagra expired in China in May, following patent expirations in several European countries and elsewhere that are expected to undercut profits for the American pharmaceutical giant as cheaper alternatives are rolled out.
辉瑞公司的万艾可专利已于五月在中国到期，公司在几个欧洲国家和其他地区的专利此前也已陆续到期，预计随着便宜替代品的推出，这个美国制药业巨头的利润将受到侵蚀。
Since May, Chinese companies have been vying with one another to emerge as the dominant player in the new market for generic versions of the pill. In the early stages of the competition, Guangzhou Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical appears to have emerged triumphant.
五月份以来，几家中国企业一直在这个非专利药的新市场上相互争夺主导地位。在竞争的早期阶段，广州白云山制药总厂似乎胜出。
After years of behind-the-scenes preparation, the company last week received the state production license that will allow it to start churning out sildenafil citrate, the active ingredient in Viagra. Guangzhou Baiyunshan, a subsidiary of the larger Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings Limited, began developing its product in the 1990s, but had to hold off in 2003 when it was unable to get a production license because of the Pfizer patent, Nanfang Daily reported.
经过多年的幕后准备工作，该公司上周获得了国家许可，将允许其开始批量生产枸橼酸西地那非，即万艾可的活性成分。据《南方日报》报道，广州白云山是更大的广州医药集团有限公司的下属公司，自20世纪90年代起就在研发自己的产品，但不得不在2003年推迟生产，因为辉瑞的专利，白云山没有得到生产许可。
Chinese companies have spent the better part of two decades lying in wait for Pfizer’s patent to expire because profits in China’s erectile dysfunction drug sector are enormous and only expected to grow.
在辉瑞公司的专利到期前的20年里，中国公司一直在虎视眈眈地等待着，因为中国的勃起功能障碍药物市场的利润巨大，而且预计只会增长。
The “Investigation Report on China Sildenafil Market, 2009-2018” put out by China Market Research Reports estimates that more than 50 million men in China suffer from sexual dysfunction. The demand for a remedy is expected to rise along with the aging of China’s population. The United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs projects that by 2050 China will be home to 437 million people over the age of 60.
中国市场研究报告(China Market Research Reports)发布的“中国西地那非市场2009-2018年调查报告”估计，中国有5千多万男性患性功能障碍。对治疗药物的需求预计将随着中国老龄人口的增长而上升。联合国经济及社会理事会预测，到2050年，中国60岁以上的人口将达到4.37亿。
According to a Citigroup study cited by CNBC, the current Chinese erectile dysfunction drug market is worth 1.7 billion renminbi a year. This could reach as much as 5 billion renminbi, or $810 million, by 2018, it said, and generic versions of Viagra could take more than half the market. Whereas Viagra is sold in China at more than 90 renminbi, or almost $15, a pill, Baiyunshan plans to market its own version for between 30 to 50 renminbi, giving it a serious competitive advantage.
据CNBC援引的花旗集团(Citigroup)的一项研究，目前中国勃起功能障碍药物市场的价值是每年17亿元人民币。报告称，到2018年，这个市场价值可高达50亿元人民币，或8.1亿美元，万艾可的仿制药可能获得这个市场的一半还多。万艾可在中国的售价是每片90多元人民币，约合将近15美元，白云山计划向市场推出的仿制药的售价是每片30至50元人民币，具有极大的竞争优势。
Viagra was introduced to China in 1998, but Pfizer faced a range of challenges to its patent and other litigation until 2007. One of the greatest obstacles the company faced in marketing the drug to Chinese consumers was that it did not own the trademark on its most commonly used Chinese name, “Wei Ge (伟哥),” which sounds somewhat like the English while literally translating to “Great Older Brother,” or “Big Guy.” When Pfizer tried to trademark the colloquial Chinese term for its product, it discovered that that name was already owned by a local pharmaceutical company in Guangzhou and so was left with the lackluster transliteration “Wan Ai Ke (万艾可),” which has no particular Chinese meaning.
万艾可在1998年进入中国市场，辉瑞曾面临过从专利到其他诉讼等一系列挑战，直至2007年。公司向中国消费者推销该药所面临的最大挑战是，它不拥有自己药品最常用的中国名“伟哥”的商标，这个名称听起来与英文名接近，字面的意思是“大哥哥”或“大家伙”。当辉瑞试图把这个中国口语名称注册为其产品商标时，它发现那个商标已被广州一家当地制药公司拥有，所以只能给药品注册了枯燥的音译名“万艾可”，这个名称没有中文的特别意义。
Baiyunshan clearly seeks to mimic the mainland success of “Wei Ge” by naming its product “Jin Ge (金戈),” which means “Golden Dagger-Axe.” This serves up a witty reference to Pfizer’s “Big Guy” in terms of pronunciation while conjuring the image of the phallic, L-shaped blade favored by warriors in the Shang through Han dynasties.
白云山显然想通过将其产品命名为“金戈”来模仿“伟哥”在中国大陆的成功，新名字在发音上与辉瑞的“大家伙”诙谐地相似，而且“戈”这种受到从商代到汉朝的武士喜爱的勾形刀，让人联想起阴茎的形象。
This clear mimicry in both product and marketing is an indication, however, of the Chinese pharmaceutical industry’s weakness, according to an article in China Youth Daily. It quoted Long Yongtu, who was the lead negotiator on China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, as saying in 2006 that 90 percent of the 5,000 or so large and small pharmaceutical companies in China produced only generics, and their combined annual sales revenue totaled less than $40 billion, less than that of a single company of Pfizer’s size. In 2013, Pfizer took in $51.3 billion globally.
然而，从《中国青年报》的一篇文章来看，在产品和营销上的这种明显模仿行为，是中国医药行业薄弱的表现。文章引用中国加入世界贸易组织谈判的首席代表龙永图2006年的话说，中国有大大小小5000多家制药企业，其中90%以上生产仿制药，所有药企的总产值加在一起不到400亿美元，比不上辉瑞一家的。2013年，辉瑞公司在全球的营业收入是513亿美元。
Nearly a decade later, Chinese pharmaceutical companies are still more eager to imitate than innovate, shying away from the huge investments and risks of developing new drugs in favor of the certain returns from imitating tried-and-true blockbuster drugs or repackaging existing formulas. According to China Youth Daily, Chinese pharmaceuticals on average still invest less than 1 percent of their budget in research and development, despite recent government incentives.
将近十年过去了，中国的制药企业仍热衷于模仿，而不愿创新，企业避开巨大的资金投入及开发新药的风险，选择靠模仿经过检验的成功畅销药、或重新包装现有成分来获得确定的回报。据《中国青年报》文章，尽管政府最近推出了奖励措施，中国医药企业平均投资在研发上的钱不到预算的1％。
Generics are nonetheless better alternatives for penny-pinching consumers than the knock-offs that abound in China, as they are subject to governmental regulation and contain the same active ingredients and dosage as the original drug. Time will tell if those who prefer traditional Chinese medicine virility treatments such as pangolin scales or tiger penis will be swayed by the new “Golden Dagger-Ax” on the market.
虽然如此，对想省钱的消费者来说，仿制药仍比中国无所不在的假货好得多，因为仿制药受到政府监管，含有相同的活性成分，剂量也与原药相同。那些更喜欢传统的中国壮阳药，比如穿山甲鳞片或虎鞭的人，是否会被市场上新的“金戈”征服，有待时间证明。
