BBC地平线系列之《药物依赖》

BBC地平线系列之《药物依赖》

245第1集:人的一生要吃四千粒药

Over the course of your lifetime, 在你的一生中

you're likely to be prescribed more than 14,000 pills. 医生可能给你开了超过一万四千颗药丸

Tiny little spheres of 这种小小的粉末压片

crushed powder with almost magical effects, 有着魔法般的功效

pills that will possibly save 药物可以拯救生命

and extend your life by decades. 并将寿命延长数十年

Any medicine actually is a miracle. 实际上 任何药物都是一种奇迹

If you really think about what a medicine does, 只要你想想药物的工作原理 that you can design a small chemical 人居然能研制出一种化学药品

to interfere with a biological process to alter disease... 调控生物进程 进而治疗疾病...

I mean, it is just astonishing that you ever get there. 我们能做到这一点真的令人嗔目结舌

These miraculous pills 这些神奇药物得以出现

often owe as much to serendipity as science. 所需的运气与研究并重

We started with a drug that we hoped would be effective in angina 我们研制这种药的初衷 是为了治疗心绞痛

and we ended up with a medicine 最后却发现这种药物

that was highly effective in erectile dysfunction. 对治疗阳痿非常有效 This accidental nature of drug discovery means little is known 这种药物发现的偶然性表明

about what they can do until we all take them. 在服用药物前我们对它知之甚少

In many ways you learn as much about 即便投放市场之后

your medicine after it's launched as you knew before. 你对药物许多方面的了解也并无增加

246第2集:依靠药物过日子

Our relationship with pills 我们和药物的联系

starts from the very beginning of our lives, 从生命的最初开始

from the medicines handed to us by our parents. 从父母递给我们药片时就开始了

I used to get so upset having to 以前必须吃这些止痛药

take these pain killers because I didn't want to, 总让我很烦恼 因为我不想吃

so my mum, I was probably about five, 我当时大概五岁 所以我妈 and my mum used to snap them in half 把它们掰成两半

and tip the actual medication into orange squash for me. 把药倒到橙汁里给我喝

My mum gives me my tablets every day. 我妈妈每天都给我吃药

As we grow up, we begin to pop pills for everything. 随着我们长大 我们开始凡事依赖药物

There are the antibiotics we take to fight off disease, 我们服用抗生素 去抗击疾病

more than one course every two years of our lives. 每两年还要吃不止一个疗程

The 28,000 pain killers we each take 有28000种止痛药供人挑选

to make us feel better. 用于减少痛苦

Pills to stop us having babies. 还有帮人避孕的药片

I actually got pregnant on the pill. 我其实是靠吃药帮助才怀孕的 So... 所以

Medicines to carry us through middle age. 帮人度过中年综合症的药物 Statins. 抑制素

Even tablets to extend our youth 甚至还有帮我们延缓衰老

and improve our performance in bed. 提升床上战斗力的药物

247第3集:葛兰素史克

This is a temple to modern science - 这是现代科学的一座神殿

the pharmaceutical labs at GSK. 葛兰素史克公司的制药实验室

But modern drug discovery relies 但现代药品的发现

more on an automated lottery than careful design. 更依赖于运气而不是精心的设计

This store of chemical compounds 这个化合物仓库

is the company's crown jewels. 就是公司的核心所在

This is where their new drugs come from. 这就是新药物的来源地 In here is a library of 这里是超过两百万的

over two million nameless chemical compounds. 未命名化合物的仓库 The scientists know very little about them. 科学家们对它们了解甚少 They could be highly toxic, 它们可能有剧毒

or they could be harbouring a life-saving drug. 也可能是治病救人的良药 It really is trying to find a needle in a haystack. 这实际上是海底捞针 It is about getting the samples out, 我们需要取出样品

processing them, screening them 进行加工 筛选

and hoping we find that that chemical compound 希望能发现一种化合物 that is active against those disease areas. 能够对某种疾病有效 248第4集:药物合成

A known disease molecule, called the target, 一种已知的疾病分子 我们称为靶分子

is introduced to each of the two million compounds, one by one, 逐一加入到这两百万化合物中

to see if anything happens. 去观察是否有反应

With the two million or so compounds, 在这两百万的化合物中

we might get a few 我们可能会发现

compounds that are active against that target. 一些化合物对靶分子有效 We then have to take that one or two hits 然后我们得抓住这一个或两个的机会

and the chemists will make hundreds, maybe thousands, of samples 化学家根据它们的母核结构

related to that original 合成出成千上万的类似物

structure to try and improve the activity 以期提高其活性

and most importantly try 最重要的是

to negate any safety or undesirable effects. 消除一切危险的和预期外的功效

We have to screen those over and over 我们必须一遍一遍地筛选

again to make sure that we're going in the right direction. 确保我们的方向正确

After hundreds of millions of tests, 在数以万计的测试后

just a handful will make it through to trials on people. 只有少量的药品

会进行人体测试

In all, it takes about 1 billion and 15 years' work 总的来说 需要10亿的投入和15年的工作

to find the winning compound that can become a licensed drug. 才能找到一种可以获批投产的化合物

The journey to a medicine is an epic journey. 寻找药物的旅程是宏大的 That whole process from idea through to a drug approved 从想法的形成到药品审批通过的整个过程

is one littered with failure. 失败一直如影随形

249第5集:使人注意力集中的药

His newfound ability to concentrate 他现在能够集中注意力

is largely thanks to a drug called methylphenidate, 多亏了这种叫哌醋甲酯的药

best known to most of us by a brand name - Ritalin. 大家更熟悉的是它的商品名 利他林

It takes about 30-40 minutes for it to work, 大概30到40分钟就能发挥药效

and it's not like Liam suddenly goes docile. 当然也并非利亚姆突然就变温顺

It just basically does have a calming effect on him. 它只是有种镇定的功效

He doesn't seem to be as hyperactive 他不再过度亢奋

on the medication and he is able to sit quietly, 服药期间他可以安静地坐着

be able to focus on things like his homework 可以集中精力在他的作业上