VOA慢速英语听力：美国批准减缓阿尔茨海默病早期影响的药物 US Approves Drug to Slow Early Effects of Alzheimer’s Disease.
U.S. officials gave full approval last week to Leqembi, a drug that moderately slows Alzheimer’s disease. The disease affects the brain causing memory loss and dementia.
美国官员上周对Leqembi药物给予全面批准，该药物能够适度减缓阿尔茨海默病的进展。这种疾病会影响大脑，导致记忆丧失和痴呆。
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval means the government’s health coverage, Medicare, and other health insurance plans will help pay for the drug’s cost.
美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）的批准意味着政府的医疗保险计划（Medicare）和其他健康保险计划将帮助支付该药物的费用。
The FDA approved Leqembi for patients with mild dementia and other effects caused during the early stages of Alzheimer’s.
FDA批准了Leqembi用于轻度痴呆和阿尔茨海默病早期引起的其他症状的患者。
Leqembi is the first medicine shown to moderately slow the mental loss caused by Alzheimer’s disease. The drug helps remove proteins that stick together and damage the brain.
Leqembi是首个被证明能适度减缓阿尔茨海默病引起的智力丧失的药物。该药物有助于清除黏在一起并损害大脑的蛋白质。
Final approval came after the FDA considered a study of 1,800 patients. The study showed the drug slowed losses in memory and decreases in thinking by about five months in those who received the medicine compared to those who received an ineffective substance.
FDA在考虑了一项涉及1,800名患者的研究后最终批准了该药物。该研究显示，与接受无效物质的人相比，接受该药物治疗的患者的记忆损失和思维减退减缓了约五个月。
The drug carries a warning for serious side effects, such as possible bleeding in the brain. The warning notes that these side effects are found in other drugs that target harmful brain proteins.
该药物具有严重副作用的警告，例如可能导致脑部出血。警告指出，这些副作用也存在于其他针对有害脑部蛋白质的药物中。
Last year, Medicare announced it would not pay for the drug unless the FDA gave it full approval. As a result, Alzheimer’s patients and people supporting them pushed for final approval.
去年，Medicare宣布除非FDA全面批准该药物，否则不会为其支付费用。因此，阿尔茨海默病患者及其支持者争取最终批准。
A year’s supply of Leqembi costs about $26,500. It is injected every two weeks. Some experts worry the drug’s cost is too high. Medicare pays health care costs for about 60 million Americans aged 65 or older.
Leqembi一年的用量约为26,500美元。它每两周注射一次。一些专家担心该药物的价格过高。Medicare为约6000万年满65岁或以上的美国人支付医疗费用。
Medicare administrator Chiquita Brooks-LaSure confirmed last week that the program will begin paying for the drug now that it has full FDA approval.
Medicare管理员Chiquita Brooks-LaSure上周确认，由于该药物已获得FDA的全面批准，该计划将开始支付药物费用。
But the government is also requiring patients who receive the drug to enter a program that will collect information about the drug’s safety and effectiveness.
但政府还要求接受该药物治疗的患者参加一个将收集有关该药物安全性和有效性信息的计划。
Medicare “will cover this medication broadly while continuing to gather data that will help us understand how the drug works,” Brooks-LaSure said.
Brooks-LaSure表示：“在继续收集有助于我们了解药物作用方式的数据的同时，Medicare将广泛覆盖这种药物。”
Some Medicare patients may have to pay for 20 percent of the cost of Leqembi. However, the amount will depend on the details of their insurance coverage plan.
一些Medicare患者可能需要支付Leqembi药物费用的20%。然而，具体金额将取决于他们的保险计划的细节。
Hospitals and medical clinics have said it might take time to get people started on the drug. Doctors will need to test patients for the sticky brain proteins targeted by Leqembi. Nurses need to learn how to give the drug, which needs to be administered by intravenous injection.
医院和医疗诊所表示，可能需要时间让人们开始使用该药物。医生需要为接受Leqembi治疗的患者进行黏性脑部蛋白的检测。护士需要学习如何给药，该药物需要经静脉注射给予。
Patients also must undergo regular brain scans to look for bleeding or swelling. These brain images carry extra costs for hospitals.
患者还必须定期进行脑部扫描以寻找出血或肿胀。这些脑部影像给医院带来了额外的费用。
Japanese drug-maker Eisai developed Leqembi. The drug is co-marketed with Biogen, a company based in the eastern U.S. state of Massachusetts.
日本制药公司Eisai开发了Leqembi。这种药物与总部位于美国马萨诸塞州东部的Biogen公司合作推广。
Some Alzheimer’s experts say patients, or their families might not notice the moderate difference the drug makes. But federal health advisors said the difference was important enough for them to suggest in June that the FDA approve the drug.
一些阿尔茨海默病专家表示，患者或其家人可能不会注意到这种药物产生的适度差异。但联邦健康顾问表示，这种差异足够重要，足以使他们在6月建议FDA批准这种药物。
I’m Andrew Smith.
我是安德鲁·史密斯。
