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Pfizer plans to test a combination of three novel cancer drugs in humans next year, as the US drugmaker seeks to make up lost ground in the race to develop a new generation of “immunotherapy” medicines that turn the body into a weapon against tumours.
辉瑞(Pfizer)计划明年在人体上测试综合使用三种新型抗癌药的疗效。这家美国药企正寻求在研发新一代“免疫疗法”药物的竞赛中收复失地，这类药物能把人体变成对抗肿瘤的武器。
The “triplet” trial will be one of the first to test three immunotherapies at the same time, and will involve giving a small group of patients a cocktail of drugs to determine whether the combination is safe, and whether it can shrink tumours in those suffering from solid cancers.
这一“三药合一”试验，将成为首批同时考察三种免疫疗法药物效果的试验之一，几名患者将服下三种药物的混合物，以判定这一混合物是否安全、以及是否能让那些患有实体癌的人体内的肿瘤变小。
Pfizer has fallen behind rivals such as Bristol-Myers Squibb and US Merck, which have already launched the first wave of immunotherapies, known as checkpoint inhibitors. These drugs remove brakes in the body’s immune system that stop it from attacking tumours, and have shown they can extend the lives of patients with very poor prognoses.
辉瑞已落在百时美施贵宝(BMS)和美国默克(Merck)等竞争对手后面，后两者已推出第一波免疫疗法药物——检查点抑制剂(checkpoint inhibitor)。这些药物会移除人体免疫系统中的“制动器”（“制动器”会阻止免疫系统攻击肿瘤），并已证明能够延长预后很差的患者的生命。
However, the existing therapies only work in about a third of patients, prompting rival drugmakers to find ways of augmenting their effect
然而，现有疗法仅对约三分之一患者有效，这促使其他药企想方设法增强这些疗法的效果。
Pfizer believes it can gain an edge by developing combination treatments, including a therapy that adds Avelumab, a checkpoint inhibitor it is developing with Merck of Germany, to two further drugs — Utomilumab and another code-named OX40.
辉瑞认为，自己可以通过研发综合疗法——包括一种将其与德国默克(Merck)联合研发的检查点抑制剂Avelumab同另两种药物Utomilumab和OX40混合到一起的疗法——来获得优势。
While Avelumab is designed to remove the brakes in the immune system, Pfizer thinks the other two drugs will speed up the body’s response, likening their effects to the “gas” or “oil” needed to run a well-functioning engine.
Avelumab旨在移除免疫系统中的“制动器”，辉瑞认为，另两种药物将加快人体的反应，它把它们的效果比作让一个功能良好的引擎运转所需的“气”或“油”。
The arrival of immunotherapies has been heralded as the most important development in cancer treatment in generations. Whereas new cancer drugs used to be deemed successful if they could stall tumour growth for a number of weeks, these newer medicines can keep patients alive for many months and, in some cases, years.
一些人宣称，免疫疗法的出现是几代人以来癌症治疗领域的最重要进展。过去，新的抗癌药物如果能让肿瘤生长停止几周，就会被认为是成功的，而这些更新的药物能让患者多活许多个月，在某些情况下可以多活好几年。
