2015考研英语阅读英文原刊《经济学人》强生公司走出困境？

　　2015考研英语复习正是强化复习阶段，考研英语阅读在考研英语中占了40分，所以考研英语阅读是英语科目中重要的一项。新东方名师范猛老师曾建议过考研生需要坚持每天泛读10-15分钟的英文原刊。强烈推荐了杂志《经济学人》.杂志中的文章也是考研英语的主要材料来源.希望考研考生认真阅读，快速提高考研英语阅读水平。

　　Johnson & Johnson

　　强生公司

　　Out of the mire?

　　走出困境了吗?

　　The Justice Department may spoil the drugmaker'sfresh start.

　　司法部可能会毁了这家药厂的新开始。

　　FOR the past few years Johnson & Johnson(J&J) has stumbled clumsily through thelegal and reputational swamps of contaminated pills and faulty fake hips. Under a newchief executive, it is supposed to be taking a confident stride onto firmer terrain. On April26th Alex Gorsky, a senior manager who joined the company as a salesman in 1988, wasdue to take charge. Yet the ground is still worryingly soft. America's Justice Departmentwants Mr Gorsky to testify about alleged fraud. J&J says he has nothing to do with thecase.

　　过去几年，强生官司不断，毒药丸、假臀缺陷等丑闻频出，公司步履艰难。在新掌门的领导下，公司有望重拾信心，大踏步向更高的目标迈进。4月26日，1988年就进入强生从事销售工作的公司高管亚历克斯?高斯基走马上任。但令人担忧的是，公司境遇依然艰难。美国司法部想要高斯基先生为公司的欺诈指控作证。强生方面表示，高斯基先生与该案无关。

　　The government's request, made on April 11th, is the latest stage of a long dispute. Thedepartment's lawyers filed their suit in 2010, alleging that J&J made improperpayments to boost prescriptions of its drugs. J&J can at least take solace in not beingalone. The Justice Department has sued almost every big drug firm.

　　政府4月11日作出的请求不过是这场长期纠纷的最新进展。司法部律师于2010年提请诉讼，他们宣称，强生为了推销他们的药方进行了非正常的支付。令强生公司得到慰藉是至少它不是‘孤军奋战'，几乎所有的大药厂都受到过司法部的指控。

　　Most suits are brought under the False Claims Act, which since 1986 has encouraged citizensto sue firms that defraud the government. Whistleblowers are fortified not only byrighteousness but also by a share of damages. They and the department have forged amodel public-private partnership. Since 1986 the team has won more than $30 billion.

　　大多数诉讼的依据是1986年生效的《虚假申报法案》，该法案鼓励公民对那些欺骗政府的公司进行起诉。一些人踊跃揭露黑幕，一是出自正义，二是可以获得一份赔偿。他们和司法部共同打造了一个公私合伙的典范，1986年以来，这支队伍的收入超过了300亿美元。

　　Billions have been wrung out of drugmakers. The firms have been charged with marketingdrugs for unapproved uses, paying illegal kickbacks to raise sales, or both, cheating thepublic-health programmes that foot the bill. In the last quarter of 2011 Abbott said it hadreserved $1.5 billion to pay penalties for its marketing practices, Amgen said it hadreserved $780m for a similar purpose, and GlaxoSmithKline announced a staggering $3billion agreement with the department.

　　制药厂被迫缴纳数十亿美元，他们被处罚的理由是未经批准销售药物，为扩大销售支付回扣，或者二者兼而有之，有的公司对支付患者医药费用的全民医疗保险项目进行欺瞒。2011年最后一季度，雅培表示，他们已为公司的营销行为准备了15亿美元的罚款。安进表示为同样的目的他们也保留了7.8亿美元，葛兰素史克宣布他们们与司法部之间达成了一个金额高达30亿美元的协议。

　　The department says that J&J's questionable antics took place between 1999 and2004. It alleges that the company used rebates, grants and other kickbacks to encourageOmnicare, a pharmacy for nursing homes, to recommend its drugs to patients. Prosecutorssay that J&J continued to push sales of a drug even after warnings that it had not beenproperly studied in old people. On April 11th the government's lawyers asked a judge tocompel Mr Gorsky, who oversaw the implicated business at the time, to testify. If the judgeagrees, J&J may find a settlement attractive.

　　司法部表示，强生的不轨行为发生在1999年至2004年间，他们称，强生使用返利、补贴等回扣方式鼓励一家专供养老院的药店“Omnicare”向患者推荐他们的药品。检查官说，在被告知尚不明确这些药物是否适用老年人的情况下，强生依然我行我素，继续推销他们的药品。4月11日，政府律师要求法官迫使当时负责相关业务的高斯基先生出庭作证。如果法官同意，强生可能会更希望庭外和解。

　　Such a deal would not be the last. Settlements show no sign of abating, for two main reasons.First, whatever the merits of the case against J&J, it is not clear that companies arechanging their ways. The benefits of aggressive marketing often outweigh the cost ofsettlements. Aaron Kesselheim of Harvard University tracked sales of Neurontin, a drugapproved for epilepsy but prescribed for much more. By 2004, when Pfizer paid $430m inpenalties, annual sales had reached $2.7 billion.

　　这样的交易不会是最后一笔，问题的解决并不表明这种情况有所减少，这有两个主要原因，第一，不管这起针对强生的案件价值几何，我们都弄不清楚这些公司是否已改邪归正。积极的营销带来的利益常常超过解决争端的成本，哈佛大学的阿伦?凯泽尔海姆对批准为治疗癫痫、实际上用途更广的处方药“镇顽癫”进行了跟踪后发现，到2004年，辉瑞支付的罚款为4.3亿美元，而这种药每年销售已达27亿美元。

　　Second, there is ample appetite to sue. Barack Obama's health-care law included newmeasures to fight fraud. For every $1 spent in such cases, the Justice Department boasts itgets $7 in return. Whistleblowers keep coming forward: last year they tooted in recordnumbers. And states are getting fiercer: a judge in Arkansas recently ordered J&J to pay$1.1 billion for violating the state's version of the False Claims Act.

　　第二，上诉者往往会狮子大开口且乐此不彼，奥巴马的保健法为打击欺诈增添了新的内容。在类似案例中，每支出一美元，司法部就会得到7美元的回报。报料揭丑者前赴后继：去年，他们战果空前。各州也愈加猛烈，最近，因违反州颁发的《虚假申报法案》，阿肯色州的一位法官要求强生支付11亿美元。

　　Drug executives may find one penalty especially scary. In March Eric Holder, the attorney-general, said the Justice Department would go after people as well as companies. Forexample, they might be banned from business with any government health-care programme.In a country where spending on health is nearly 18% of the economy, that could finish someamply remunerated careers.

　　不过有一项处罚条款会让制药公司的老总们吓出一身冷汗。三月份艾立克?胡尔德总检查长表示，司法部将在处理此类案件时，不仅对公司，也会对当事人追查到底。例如，他们可能被禁与政府“公共健康计划”有关的所有业务。在一个健康支出占经济收入18%的国家，这可能会终结一些具有可观报酬的职业。

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