????本文為與《時代》雜志的合作內容。原文最初發表于Time.com。

????一項最新研究顯示，協同使用兩種抗癌藥物，可以使將近60%的晚期黑色素瘤患者的腫瘤縮小。

????這項試驗招募了全球137個地點的945名病人。BBC引述幾位英國醫生本周在美國臨床腫瘤學會年度大會上的發言稱，當聯合使用ipilimumab和nivolumab兩種藥物治療黑色素瘤時，超過半數患者的腫瘤停止惡化了近一年之久。該研究也被刊登在了《新英格蘭醫學期刊》上。

????這兩款藥物的設計宗旨都是調動人體自然防御功能，以對抗癌癥。人體的免疫系統本身就是一款對抗疾病的良藥，但有些先天的抑制因素會像剎車一樣，阻止身體攻擊自己的組織。癌細胞正是利用這個漏洞無法抑制地持續增長。這兩款藥物的作用就是關掉人體的這些“剎車”。

????這兩款藥物都是由百時美施貴寶公司研發的。據BBC報道，另一款名叫Pembrolizumab的新藥也有類似的效果。

????研究人員發現，58%的患者在同時使用了這兩款藥物之后，他們的腫瘤在一年內至少縮小了三分之一。但目前還不清楚患者接受了這兩款藥物治療后的生存時間是多久。

????皮膚癌是人類最常見的癌癥之一。美國癌癥協會表示，雖然黑色素瘤的發病率只占所有皮膚癌患者的2%，但它卻是一種極其兇險的疾病，多數皮膚癌患者的死亡都是由它造成的。據美國癌癥協會預測，2015年美國將有近1萬人死于皮膚癌。

????不過，在美國臨床腫瘤學會年度大會上，這個利好消息被另一個高調的演講遮掩住了。該演講痛批癌癥治療的天價，當然它并非只針對百時美施貴寶公司的這兩款抗黑色素瘤藥物，而是針對整個癌癥治療業。

????據《華爾街日報》報道，斯隆凱特琳癌癥研究中心（Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center）消化腫瘤科負責人萊納德?索爾茨在大會上發表演講稱，如果用這種“雙藥聯合”的方法治療病人，那么每人每年的醫療成本將達到29.5萬美元左右，他表示這個價格是病人難以承受的。

????索爾茨還指出，如果美國所有的轉移性腫瘤患者每年都花29.5萬美元看病，那么僅僅一年的治療費用總額就將高達1740億美元。

????“癌癥藥物令人難以承受的高價是一個大問題，也是我們的問題。”索爾茨表示。

????索爾茨醫生還呼吁改變美國藥品的定價方式。他表示，聯邦醫療保險系統應該直接與制藥公司進行談判，不過法律現在還不允許這樣做。（財富中文網）

????譯者：樸成奎

????審校：任文科

????This article is published in partnership with Time.com. The original version can be found here.

????Two cancer drugs, when taken in concert, can shrink tumors in nearly 60% of people with advanced-stage melanoma, according to a new study.

????The trial, which enrolled 945 patients at 137 sites worldwide, found that treating the cancer with medications ipilimumab and nivolumab stopped its advance for almost a year in more than half of cases, the BBC reports, citing a presentation by U.K. doctors this weekend at the American Society of Clinical Oncology annual conference. The research was also published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

????Both drugs are designed to bring the body’s natural defenses in on the fight against the cancer. While the immune system is generally a potent agent in combatting disease, certain built-in “brakes” keep the body from attacking its own tissue — a loophole that cancers can use to continue growing unchecked. But both medications turn those “brakes” off.

????Both drugs are developed by Bristol-Myers Squibb Inc. BMY 2.91% . Another drug, Pembrolizumab, developed by Merck & Co. Inc. MRK -0.23% is reported to have similar qualitiese, according to the BBC.

????In the study, 58% of patients taking both medicines saw their tumours shrink by at least a third over the course of almost a year. Still, perhaps the most important information — how long patients treated with the two medications live — is unknown, and will remain so for some time.

????Skin cancer is among the most common cancers; according to the American Cancer Society (ACS), while melanoma accounts for less than 2% of skin cancers, it causes the majority of skin cancer deaths. The ACS predicts that nearly 10,000 Americans will die of skin cancer in 2015.

????However, the upbeat news was overshadowed at the conference by a high-profile speech condemning the skyrocketing price, not just of BMS’s melanoma-focused drugs, but cancer treatments in general.

????The Wall Street Journal reported Leonard Saltz, chief of gastrointestinal oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, as telling the conference in a speech that the cost of treating one patient with the two-drug combination would be around $295,000 over nearly one year, something he called unsustainable.

????If all U.S. patients with metastatic cancer took drugs priced at $295,000 a year, it would cost $174 billion to treat them all for just one year, the WSJ reported Dr. Saltz as saying.

????“The unsustainably high prices of cancer drugs is a big problem, and it’s our problem,” Dr. Saltz said.

????Dr. Saltz called for an overhaul of the way drugs are priced in the U.S., saying that Medicare should be able to negotiate with pharma companies directly, something currently not allowed by law.