中國向非洲發運抗埃博拉藥物

China has sent thousands of doses of an experimental anti-Ebola drug developed by the Chinese military to Africa. The company manufacturing the drug said it plans to start human clinical trials there soon.

中國已將中國軍方研發的一種實驗性抗埃博拉(Ebola)藥物送往非洲，數量達到數千劑。製造該藥的公司表示，計劃在那裏很快開始人體臨牀試驗。

Sihuan Pharmaceutical, the private Chinese company that last week purchased the rights to commercialise jk-05 from a branch of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), said it began manufacturing the drug after it was approved in August as a “special drug for military needs”.

四環醫藥(Sihuan Pharmaceutical)上週向中國軍事醫學科學院（簡稱“軍科院”）買下jk-05的商業化權利。該公司表示，它在該藥8月“獲得軍隊特需藥物批件”後就投入了製造。

The Chinese military has already sent enough of the drug to treat 10,000 people to west Africa, according to Dr Huo Caixia, associate president of research and development for Sihuan and head of its Beijing Aohe Drug Research Institute. Sihuan, whose founders are former military doctors, is part-owned by Morgan Stanley private equity funds.

四環醫藥研發部總經理助理、該公司旗下北京澳合藥物研究院院長霍彩霞介紹說，中國軍方已向西非發運了足以治療1萬人的藥物。四環醫藥的創始人是前軍醫。摩根士丹利(Morgan Stanley)旗下的私募股權基金持有該公司部分股權。

The aim is to have the drug on hand in case any of the Chinese Medical personnel sent to help out with the Ebola epidemic fall ill and for use in clinical trials which are now being designed, she said. It had not yet been used to treat any African patients, she said, but added that could not be ruled out.

她說，目標是準備好藥物儲備，以備被派去幫助抗擊埃博拉疫情的中國醫務人員受到感染，並用於目前正在策劃的臨牀試驗。她表示，迄今該藥尚未被用於治療非洲的任何病人，但隨後又說，無法查證這一點。

Eager to cement its relationship with African countries that may be affected by the virus, China is stepping up its contributions to the fight against Ebola.

中國正加大其對抗擊埃博拉疫情所作的貢獻，急於鞏固中國與可能受疫情影響的非洲國家之間的關係。

Beijing has sent 200 medical workers to the affected countries and pledged more than $35m in medical aid to Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and the World Health Organisation. China told a World Bank crisis meeting in Washington last week its Ebola effort was already worth $200m altogether and would grow further.

北京方面已向受影響的國家派出200名醫務工作者，並承諾向塞拉利昂、利比里亞、幾內亞和世界衛生組織(WHO)提供3500多萬美元醫療援助。中國在上週於華盛頓舉行的世界銀行(World Bank)危機會議上表示，中國爲抗擊埃博拉作出的貢獻總計已達到2億美元，並且在進一步增長。

China’s Academy of Military Medical Science, which according to its website was set up in 1951 by Mao Zedong to help China counter germ warfare waged by the US in North Korea, declined to comment on jk-05.

軍科院官網稱，該院是毛澤東在1951年指示成立的，目的是幫助中國對抗美國在朝鮮發動的細菌戰。該院拒絕對jk-05置評。

The large amount of the drug already present in Africa puts it on a scale with GlaxoSmithKline’s plans, announced in August, to manufacture 10,000 doses of an experimental Ebola vaccine being developed with the US National Institutes of Health. Human trials are under way in the US, UK and Mali to prove its safety.

已經送到非洲的藥物數量在規模上與葛蘭素史克(GSK)的計劃相仿。GSK在8月宣佈，將製造1萬劑與美國國立衛生研究院(National Institutes of Health)合作開發的埃博拉實驗性疫苗。人體試驗已在美國、英國和馬裏展開，以證明其安全性。

The Chinese drug is being developed to treat Ebola and is not a vaccine. But it also has preventive uses, according to Dr Huo. She said it had passed cell and animal tests, but not human testing. Clinical trials would initially be done in Africa, she said, since no Chinese patients have yet contracted the disease.

上述中國研發的藥物將被用於治療埃博拉，而不作爲疫苗。但霍彩霞說，它也有預防的用途。她表示，該藥已通過細胞和動物實驗，但尚未在人體上試驗。她說，臨牀試驗將首先在非洲進行，因爲還沒有中國患者受到感染。

Sihuan has released little technical information about jk-05, beyond saying that it “can selectively inhibit virus replication by inhibiting the RNA polymerase of the Ebola virus”. That means it blocks a key enzyme that the virus needs to replicate its genes.

四環醫藥幾乎沒有發佈jk-05的技術信息，只是說，這種藥物是“新型的核糖核酸(RNA)聚合酶選擇性抑制劑，能夠抑制埃博拉病毒的RNA聚合酶，從而達到抑制病毒複製的目的”。也就是說，該藥物能夠抑制埃博拉病毒複製基因時需要的一種關鍵酶。