VOA慢速英语听力：又一种显示出希望的阿尔茨海默病药物 Another Alzheimer's Drug Showing Promise.
Another experimental Alzheimer's drug has been shown to slow patients' worsening conditions, researchers reported Monday.
另一种实验性的阿尔茨海默病药物据研究人员周一报道已经显示出能够减缓患者病情的恶化。
The American drug company Eli Lilly said it is seeking U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the drug donanemab. If approved, it would be the second Alzheimer's treatment for delaying the disease. Alzheimer's affects the brain and causes memory loss and dementia.
美国制药公司伊莉莉表示正在寻求美国食品药品监督管理局（FDA）对药物 donanemab 的批准。如果获批准，它将成为第二种用于延缓阿尔茨海默病的治疗药物。阿尔茨海默病影响大脑，导致记忆丧失和痴呆。
The FDA approved Leqembi, from Japanese drugmaker Eisai, earlier this month.
美国食品药品监督管理局本月早些时候批准了日本制药公司艾尔健（Eisai）的药物 Leqembi。
"Finally there's some hope, right, that we can talk about," Lilly's Dr. John Sims told reporters Monday at the Alzheimer's Association International Conference in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.
伊莉莉的约翰·辛姆斯博士周一在荷兰阿姆斯特丹举行的阿尔茨海默病协会国际会议上对记者说：“终于有了一些希望，对吧，我们可以谈论一下。”
The drug does not cure the disease. Instead, it slows its progression by about four to seven months. But Sims noted that "it doesn't mean you can't have very meaningful treatments for patients."
这种药物不能治愈疾病，而是通过减缓其进展来延缓大约四至七个月。但辛姆斯指出：“这并不意味着不能为患者提供非常有意义的治疗。”
Eli Lilly published the full results of its study of 1,700 patients in the Journal of the American Medical Association. It also presented its results at the Alzheimer's conference.
伊莉莉在《美国医学会杂志》上发表了对1,700名患者进行的研究的完整结果。它还在阿尔茨海默病会议上展示了研究结果。
Both donanemab and Leqembi are laboratory-made antibodies. The treatments are injected into the patients. The drugs target a protein buildup, called beta amyloid, in the brain of Alzheimer's patients.
donanemab 和 Leqembi 都是在实验室制造的抗体。这些治疗方法是通过注射给患者的。药物靶向阿尔茨海默病患者大脑中的一种叫做 β-淀粉样蛋白的蛋白质积聚。
Both drugs come with serious safety concerns. Patients can experience brain swelling or bleeding. In the Lilly study, such side effects were linked to three deaths.
这两种药物都存在严重的安全问题。患者可能会出现脑肿胀或出血。在伊莉莉的研究中，此类副作用与三起死亡案例有关。
Dr. Liana Apostolova was the study investigator. She is also a professor in Alzheimer's Disease research at Indiana University School of Medicine. She said, "These side effects should not be taken lightly." But she added that, in most cases, the effects were well controlled by monitoring with magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or by stopping using the drug.
莲娜·阿波斯托洛娃博士是研究的调查员，她还是印第安纳大学医学院的阿尔茨海默病研究教授。她表示：“这些副作用不应被轻视。”但她补充说，在大多数情况下，通过磁共振成像（MRI）监测或停用药物可以有效控制这些副作用。
The Eli Lilly study
伊莉莉的研究
Lilly's study included people ages 60 to 85 who were in the early stages of Alzheimer's.
伊莉莉的研究对象包括年龄在60到85岁之间的早期阿尔茨海默病患者。
Half of the study subjects received a monthly injection of donanemab for up to 18 months. The other half received an inactive substance, called a placebo.
研究对象中的一半每月注射 donanemab，持续时间长达18个月。另一半接受了一种称为安慰剂的无效物质。
Patients were also switched to inactive substances if enough amyloid cleared out. The study found that it happened to half of the patients within a year.
如果足够的淀粉样蛋白清除出去，患者也会转换到无效物质。研究发现，在一年内有一半的患者发生了这种情况。
Amyloid alone does not cause Alzheimer's. So researchers also studied the levels of tau, another protein that causes the disease in the brain. Patients with higher levels of tau are considered to be in the more advanced stages of Alzheimer's.
淀粉样蛋白单独并不会导致阿尔茨海默病。因此，研究人员还研究了引起大脑中这种疾病的另一种蛋白质 tau 的水平。具有较高 tau 水平的患者被认为处于更晚期的阿尔茨海默病阶段。
The results: both groups declined during the 18-month study but the drug appears to work better for patients in earlier stages of the disease. Those with low to medium tau levels saw a 35-percent slower decline. For high tau patients, donanemab slowed the disease progression by about 17 percent.
结果显示：在为期18个月的研究期间，两组患者的情况都有所下降，但这种药物似乎对于早期阶段的患者效果更好。那些具有低至中等 tau 水平的患者的下降速度减慢了35%。对于高 tau 水平的患者，donanemab 能够将病情进展减慢约17%。
Anne White is the president of neuroscience at Lilly. She said, "At the end of the trial, the average patient had been without drugs for seven months and yet they continued to benefit."
安妮·怀特是伊莉莉的神经科学部门主管。她表示：“在试验结束时，平均患者已经停药七个月，但他们仍然继续获益。”
Scientists say that, while these drugs may mark a new era in Alzheimer's treatment, huge questions remain about which patients should try them. Questions also remain about how much benefit patients will really experience.
科学家表示，尽管这些药物可能标志着阿尔茨海默病治疗的一个新时代，但是关于应该给哪些患者尝试这些药物仍然存在重大问题。对于患者到底能够获得多少好处还存在疑问。
The main safety concern is brain swelling or bleeding. These conditions often cause no symptoms but sometimes can be serious, even deadly.
最主要的安全问题是脑肿胀或出血。这些情况通常没有症状，但有时可能会严重甚至致命。
Another concern is that more than 90 percent of the study's patients were white. That means there is little data on how effective the treatment could be for other populations, said Alzheimer's specialist Jennifer Manly of Columbia University.
另一个问题是，超过90%的研究患者是白人。这意味着对于其他人群，关于这种治疗的有效性的数据很少，哥伦比亚大学的阿尔茨海默病专家詹妮弗·曼利表示。
Lilly expects the FDA to decide by the end of this year whether to approve donanemab. The company is also seeking approval from other health agencies worldwide.
伊莉莉预计美国食品药品监督管理局将在今年年底前决定是否批准 donanemab。该公司还在寻求其他全球卫生机构的批准。
我是吉尔·罗宾斯。
Words in This Story
dementia - n. a mental illness that causes someone to be unable to think clearly
stage - n. a particular point or period in the development of something
decline - v. to become worse in condition
benefit - v. to be helped
