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.

　　中国制药公司一直以生产普通西方药物而为公众所知，不过这些公司中也有很多开始投资研发新药。其中一种药物还入围了本年度《亚洲华尔街日报》举办的“亚洲创新奖”(Asian Innovation Awards)决赛。

　　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.

　　和记黄埔医药(上海)有限公司(Hutchison Medipharma Ltd.，简称：和记黄埔医药)说，它用一种叫做穿心莲的中草药研制了一种口服药物，用于治疗两种致人衰弱的发炎性肠道疾病：溃疡性肠炎和克隆氏病(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.

　　该公司表示，中国民间一般用穿心莲来治疗如上呼吸道感染和普通感冒等各种小病。

　　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中国民间一般用穿心莲来治疗如上呼吸道感染和普通感冒等各种小病。和记黄埔医药是个总部位于上海的研究实验室，其60%的股份为和黄中国医药科技有限公司(Hutchison China Meditech Ltd.)所持有，后者是香港亿万富豪李嘉诚旗下和记黄埔有限公司(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.

　　据和记黄埔医药估计，美国有上百万病人感染肠道疾病。这些肠道疾病可引发腹痛、发烧、浑身乏力、非自愿性体重减轻和溃疡等一系列症状。

　　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.

　　和记黄埔医药还说，目前不建议病人长期使用药物等现有治疗方法，因为它们会引起痤疮和脸部浮肿等严重副作用。该公司说，有些治疗方法还极为昂贵，一年的费用在2万至3万美元不等。

　　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.

　　中国医学科学院药物研究所所长蒋建东说，和记黄埔是中国投资研发新专利和进行自我创新的众多中国医药公司中的一个，很多公司因高研发成本和高失败率而打消了努力创新的想法。

　　“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.

　　在纽约证券交易所(New York Stock Exchange)上市的南京先声药业集团董事长任晋生说，大多数中国制药公司在研发方面的投资占公司收入的比例仅为1%，至多2%。先声药业研发了一种名为恩度(Endo)的药物，用来治疗非小细胞性肺癌，这是最常见的一种肺癌。

　　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.

　　恩度是利用先声药业开发团队的原创研究开发的，但并不包含中药所用的草药。任晋生说，去年这种药物的销售额在3,380万美元左右。他还说，公司用于研发的收入有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.

　　蒋建东说，先声药业这样的公司在中国很少，这使中国制药行业远未达到获得国际认可的水平，因为研发主要是局限于对已有药物的改良。

　　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.”

　　而和记黄埔医药创始人杜莹(Samantha Du)相信，该公司名为“HMPL-004”的新药将成为第一批在中国发现和开发、在全世界使用的创新的、受专利保护的、世界级的医药疗法之一。杜莹在2002年创办和记黄埔医药，希望让它成为中国少有的几家开发新药的医药研发实验室之一。

　　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.”

　　已有几种使用中草药材料的药物在中国以外地区有售，包括东南亚、俄罗斯和中东。但和记黄埔医药公司说，HMPL-004具有突破性，因为它是中药向西方口服处方药的第一次重大转变，2009年临床试验也表明，这种药物的疗效可比西方大公司极其昂贵的生物制药，同时不需要注射，没有相关副作用。

　　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.

　　杜莹说，和记黄埔医药已在美国获得了一项专利，去年在中国申请了专利，正在等待批准。

　　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的临床试验获得了积极评价。洛杉矶雪松西奈医疗中心(Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)炎症性肠病中心主任兼肠胃科主任塔尔甘(Stephan Targan)说，作为一种天然口服药，它带来了一种有希望的疗法。

　　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.

　　杜莹希望这种药物能够满足美国食品药品管理局(Food and Drug Administration)的标准，以便最早能在三年内实现商业化销售。她说，它将具有很多历史意义。