Three years ago no one had heard of BioNTech. Today the German biotechnology firm enjoys global renown, as well as annual revenues of $19bn. The company owes both the lustre and the lucre chiefly to the successful mrna covid-19 vaccine which it developed in partnership with Pfizer, an American drug giant. Yet even the effective jab has not immunised it from a downturn afflicting the biotech industry. On August 8th BioNTech reported that sales fell by 40% in the second quarter, year on year, as fewer people are left unjabbed and unboosted. Its share price tumbled by nearly 9%.

【1】lustre 榮光

【2】lucre 錢財(cái)

三年前，沒有人聽說(shuō)過(guò)BioNTech。如今，這家德國(guó)生物技術(shù)公司享譽(yù)全球，其年收入高達(dá)190億美元。該公司的輝煌和利潤(rùn)主要?dú)w功于它與美國(guó)制藥巨頭輝瑞公司合作成功開發(fā)的mRNA covid-19疫苗。然而，即使疫苗有效，也不能使其免受生物技術(shù)行業(yè)低迷的影響。8月8日BioNTech報(bào)告稱，其第二季度銷售額同比下降了40%，因?yàn)闆]有接種疫苗以及沒有打加強(qiáng)針的人越來(lái)越少。其股價(jià)暴跌近9%。

The biotech industry is particularly vulnerable to the syndrome of slowing economic growth, higher inflation and rising interest rates. As with other tech startups, rate rises make promised profits, most of which lie far in the future, look less hale today. Unlike software firms, biotech companies need constant injections of capital to develop their drugs, which takes lots of time and money.?

生物技術(shù)行業(yè)尤其容易受到經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)放緩、高通脹和利率上升的影響。與其他科技初創(chuàng)公司一樣，利率上升使得承諾的利潤(rùn)(其中大部分要在遙遠(yuǎn)的未來(lái)才能實(shí)現(xiàn))如今看起來(lái)不那么誘人了。與軟件公司不同，生物技術(shù)公司需要不斷注入資金來(lái)開發(fā)藥物，這需要大量的時(shí)間和金錢。

Until recently that money was easy to tap. Biotech startups raised $34bn globally last year, twice the figure in 2020. In the first six months of 2021, 61 such firms launched initial public offerings (ipos) in America alone. Since then cash has grown scarcer. The first half of 2022 saw just 14 American ipos. None of the 24 startups that Silicon Valley Bank, a lender to techie companies, expected to go public this year has made the jump. Funding for private biotech businesses is down, too. Banks are reluctant to lend to early-stage firms, whose fate is tied to treatments that might never materialise.?

【1】make sb jump 促使某人行動(dòng)

直到最近，這些資金都很容易獲得。去年，生物技術(shù)初創(chuàng)公司在全球融資340億美元，是2020年的兩倍。在2021年的前六個(gè)月，僅在美國(guó)就有61家這樣的公司上市。從那時(shí)起，現(xiàn)金變得越來(lái)越稀缺。2022年上半年，只有14家美國(guó)公司上市。為科技公司提供貸款的硅谷銀行，預(yù)計(jì)今年有24家初創(chuàng)公司上市，但是并沒有一家公司有行動(dòng)。私有的生物技術(shù)企業(yè)的資金也在減少。銀行不愿向處于早期階段的公司提供貸款，因?yàn)檫@些公司的命運(yùn)與可能永遠(yuǎn)無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)的治療方案聯(lián)系在一起。

Many companies are shedding staff. This week Atara and MacroGenics, two medium-sized public firms, announced big layoffs. An index of biotech companies listed on New York’s Nasdaq exchange has fallen by a quarter since its peak a year ago, further than the sliding nasdaq index overall. Valuations of unlisted companies are dropping faster than ever, says Lain Anderson of L.E.K. Consulting. Not all will pull through.

【1】裁員的說(shuō)法：shed staff / layoff

【2】pull through??(from illness) ?patient? 挺過(guò)來(lái) ; (from difficulty) ?person? 熬過(guò)來(lái)

許多公司都在裁員。本周，兩家中型上市公司Atara和MacroGenics宣布大規(guī)模裁員。在紐約納斯達(dá)克交易所上市的生物技術(shù)公司指數(shù)自一年前達(dá)到峰值以來(lái)已經(jīng)下跌了四分之一，其跌幅超過(guò)了納斯達(dá)克指數(shù)的整體跌幅。艾意凱咨詢公司的萊恩?安德森表示，未上市公司的估值下降速度比以往任何時(shí)候都要快。并非所有公司都能渡過(guò)難關(guān)。

As non-specialist investors swept up in the pandemic biotech boom retreat, more discerning ones are sharpening their pencils. Some companies suddenly look cheap, especially those with proven treatments or drugs in late-stage trials. Venture-capital firms have raised over $100bn to invest in life-sciences businesses in the past three years, notes Tim Haines of Abingworth, a biotech-focused asset manager. They still have plenty of unspent “dry powder” to deploy.?

【1】to be swept up in; 沉醉于

【2】Sharpen your pencil. 談判做生意時(shí)，委婉的告訴對(duì)方：我知道你成本多少，給我個(gè)好折扣，要不這買賣就算了。

隨著那些沉迷于疫情生物技術(shù)熱潮的非專業(yè)投資者的撤退，那些更有洞察力的投資者開始“談判”。一些公司突然看起來(lái)很便宜，尤其是那些治療方法已被證實(shí)或藥物處于后期試驗(yàn)階段的公司。專注于生物技術(shù)的資產(chǎn)管理公司Abingworth的蒂姆?海恩斯指出，在過(guò)去的三年里，風(fēng)投公司已經(jīng)籌集了超過(guò)1000億美元用于投資生命科學(xué)行業(yè)。他們?nèi)杂写罅课从猛甑目蓜?dòng)用的“閑置資金”。

Big pharma in particular may be eyeing up biotech startups with promising drug pipelines. The giants will see some $300bn-worth of patents expire by 2030, says Mr Haines. Pfizer has been particularly acquisitive—and, thanks to the $37bn it earned last year from sales of its covid vaccines and treatments, particularly flush. On August 8th it agreed to pay $5.4bn for Global Blood Therapeutics, a maker of a treatment against sickle-cell disease, bringing its total takeovers to more than $25bn in the past 12 months.

大型制藥公司可能會(huì)盯上那些有前途的生物技術(shù)初創(chuàng)公司。海恩斯表示，到2030年，這些巨頭將有約3000億美元的專利到期。輝瑞公司一直特別熱衷于收購(gòu)，而且得益于去年新冠疫苗和治療藥物銷售收入達(dá)到370億美元，其特別有錢。8月8日，該公司同意斥資54億美元收購(gòu)鐮狀細(xì)胞病治療藥物制造商全球血液治療公司GBT，這使其在過(guò)去12個(gè)月的收購(gòu)總額超過(guò)250億美元。

As for Pfizer’s covid-vaccine partner, BioNTech, it is still worth five times what it was before the pandemic, despite a 50% crash in its market capitalisation since the peak a year ago. Don’t bring out the defibrillator just yet.?

至于輝瑞的新冠疫苗合作伙伴BioNTech，盡管其市值較一年前的峰值暴跌了50%，但其市值仍是大流行前的5倍。先別把“除顫器”拿出來(lái)。