美国新冠康复者血液样本被倒卖，最高卖出4万美金1毫升的天价

小白老师说：各国****都在争分夺秒研发新冠肺炎疫苗或抗体药物，急需大量新冠康复患者血样，因为康复者血液中存在抗体。在美国，很多新冠患者康复出院之后自愿无偿提供自己的血样来用于研究，然而他们的好心却惨遭黑心公司利用，血样被高价倒卖牟取暴利。

能够推动新冠疫苗研究进行血液样本供不应求，含有抗体的血样甚至被研究人员视为“黄金液体”，因为它们实在是太稀缺了。这一点也恰恰被一些黑心商人看中了，对于他们来说，这是个千载难逢的发财良机。

《纽约时报》近日曝光了美国一些生物科技公司高价倒卖新冠肺炎康复者血液，甚至捐血者都可能不知道自己的血已经被拿去卖钱了。

他们在取得康复患者血液样本后，高价出售给实验室，最高每毫升炒到 4 万美元。每毫升 4 万美元什么概念？相当于 20 滴血就要花掉人民币 30 多万元。他们还会将取得的血样进行分类，样本中抗体含量越多，卖的价格就越高，俨然是一个大型的“卖血黑市”。

Blood Samples, Vital for Antibody Tests, Sold at Exorbitant Rates

对抗体测试至关重要的血样以天价格出售

After 10 terrible days of chills, nausea, a fever of 103 and a headache of such intensity that her nose bled, Aleacia Jenkins knew she had been stricken with the coronavirus even before she tested positive.

在经历了可怕的 10 天的寒战、恶心、43 摄氏度的高烧和剧烈的头痛之后，Aleacia Jenkins 在检测呈阳性之前就知道自己感染了冠状病毒。

So when a friend told her about an obscure Californian company that was asking for blood donations from people who have recovered from the virus to help researchers develop tests for antibodies, she didn’t hesitate.

因此，当一位朋友告诉她，加州一家不知名的公司正在向从病毒感染中恢复过来的人请求献血，以帮助研究人员开发抗体测试时，她毫不犹豫就同意了。

But what she did not know at the time was that the company, Cantor BioConnect, was selling those donations to laboratories and test manufacturers at sometimes exorbitant prices: from $350 up to $40,000 for a rare sample from a single donor.

但她当时不知道的是，这家名为 Cantor BioConnect 的公司将这些获赠的血样，以天价出售给实验室和测试制造商：从单个捐赠者那里获得的罕见的血样，可以卖到 350 美元到 4 万美元不等。

Cantor BioConnect said its prices were directly related to the “high costs” of its supply chain, which includes finding donors, testing the samples, safety costs and shipping logistics.

Cantor BioConnect 表示，这个价格与供应链的高成本直接相关，包括寻找捐赠者、检测样本、安全成本和运输物流。

Around the world, scientists are racing to develop and mass produce reliable antibody tests that public health experts say are a crucial element in ending the coronavirus lockdowns that are causing economic devastation. But that effort is being hamstrung, scientists say, by a shortage of the blood samples containing antibodies to Covid-19, the disease caused by the virus, that are needed to validate the tests.

在世界各地，科学家们正在竞相开发并大量生产可靠的抗体测试。公共卫生专家说，这些测试是结束冠状病毒封锁的关键因素。但科学家们说，由于缺乏含有 Covid-19 抗体的血液样本，这一努力受到了阻碍。Covid-19 是一种由该病毒引起的疾病。

Recognizing a rare opportunity, some companies are seeking to cash in on the shortages, soliciting blood donations and selling samples at rich markups in a practice that has been condemned by medical professionals as, at the very least, unethical.

一些公司意识到这是天赐良机，便开始利用血液短缺的机会征集献血，并高价出售血样，这种做法被医学专业人士谴责为至少是不道德的。

While the trade is happening worldwide, there is a particular shortage in Britain, which has only a small number of positive Covid-19 blood samples, public health officials said, because it was slow to roll out testing.

公共卫生官员说，虽然这种交易在全世界都在发生，但英国尤其短缺，只有少量的 Covid-19 阳性血液样本，因为英国开展检测的速度很慢。

Traditionally, blood samples have been provided at low cost by Britain’s largely centralized public health system to labs and clinics. In contrast to the private market in the United States, the British system is not set up to distribute samples to a large network of labs and test manufacturers, leaving many of them now to fend for themselves.

传统上，血液样本是由英国高度集中的公共卫生系统以较低的成本提供给实验室和诊所的。与美国的私人市场形成鲜明对比的是，英国的体系并不是为了将血样分发给一个由实验室和测试制造商组成的庞大网络，而让他们中的许多人自谋生路。

Strict rules govern the collection and use of human samples in the country, banning the payment of donors (past a small expense fee) and prohibiting third parties from making a profit from blood samples sourced from the National Health Service.

在中国，对人体样本的采集和使用有严格的规定，禁止向献血者支付报酬(过去只收取少量费用)，并禁止第三方从国家卫生服务机构(National Health Service)的血液样本中获利。

But that has not stopped businesses from trying to make a profit by selling blood donated in other countries to Britain and elsewhere, which they can do legally.

但这并没有阻止企业试图通过向英国和其他地方出售在其他国家捐赠的血液来盈利，他们可以合法地这么做。

Documents, emails and price lists obtained by The New York Times show that Cantor BioConnect is one of several companies throughout the world offering to sell Covid-19 blood samples to labs and test manufacturers at elevated prices. The higher the level of antibodies in the blood, the higher the price.

《纽约时报》获得的文件、电子邮件和价目表显示，Cantor BioConnect 是全球几家向实验室和测试制造商高价出售 Covid-19 血液样本的公司之一。血液中的抗体水平越高，价格就越高。

From March 31 to April 22, prices asked by Cantor BioConnect for its cheapest samples — always sold by the milliliter, the equivalent of less than a quarter of a teaspoon — rose more than 40 percent, to $500 from $350. In addition to the $40,000 sample, the company also increased the amount of blood samples for sale for $3,000 and introduced new prices of $1,000 to $2,000 for other “premium” stock.

从3月31日到4月22日，Cantor BioConnect 对以毫升为单位出售的最便宜样品的价格上涨了40%以上，从350美元涨到500美元。除了4万美元的血样，该公司还增加了售价为3000美元的血样，并对其他溢价股票推出了1000至2000美元的新价格。

Stymied by the soaring prices, scientists in Britain say they have been forced to turn to personal connections and word-of-mouth to procure the blood donations they need.

由于价格飞涨，英国科学家表示，他们被迫求助于人际关系和口口相传来获得所需的献血。

Human tissue samples are critical for virologists, medical researchers and pharmaceutical companies trying to develop vaccines, cures, treatments and tests. The samples include things like organs and bones, as well as blood.

人体组织样本对于病毒学家、医学研究人员和试图开发疫苗、治疗方法和测试的制药公司来说至关重要。这些样本包括器官、骨骼以及血液。

All of the companies mentioned in this article have denied any profiteering.

Cantor BioConnect was founded in 2016 in a San Diego suburb. Its creator, David Cantor, was following in the footsteps of his father in what was then a sleepy business. He said in a statement that he was “proud to be playing a role in the scientific research that will eventually help neutralize this deadly virus.”

这篇文章中提到的所有公司都否认有任何牟取暴利的行为。Cantor BioConnect 于 2016 年在圣地亚哥郊区成立。它的创始人康托尔是在追随他父亲的脚步，从事当时还很不景气的业务。他在一份声明中说，他很自豪能在科学研究中发挥作用，最终将有助于中和这种致命的病毒。

Mr. Cantor was early to spot a gap in the market. On March 18 of this year, he posted on Facebook: “As you know, the war against coronavirus is currently hampered by lack of testing availability.”

康托尔很早就发现了市场的缺口。今年3月18日，他在 Facebook 上写道：如你所知，抗击冠状病毒的战争目前因缺乏测试而受阻。

He added: “I’ve been flooded with requests for this blood and we need to find 50 patients willing to help the cause by donating some tubes of blood.”

Mr. Cantor and his employees began contacting coronavirus patients on social media to solicit blood donations. In a since-removed online advertisement, they said they were working “in conjunction” with the White House Covid-19 Task Force and offered $100 for each donation.

他补充道：“我收到了大量关于这种血液的请求，我们需要找到 50 名愿意通过捐赠几管血液来帮助这项事业的患者。” 康托尔和他的员工开始在社交媒体上联系冠状病毒患者，请求他们献血。在一则已删除的网络广告中，他们表示正在与白宫 Covid-19 特别工作组合作，并为每笔捐款提供 100 美元。

Dozens of donations began to flood in from across the United States. Within days, he was shipping out vials of blood to customers across the world.

数十笔捐款开始从美国各地涌入。几天之内，他就开始向世界各地的客户运送小瓶血液。

The greatest demand, Mr. Cantor said, came from American labs and antibody test manufacturers. But the company also drew major demand from Japan and Europe, he said, including several “middlemen” in Britain.

康托尔说，最大的需求来自美国实验室和抗体测试制造商。但他说，该公司也吸引了来自日本和欧洲的主要需求，包括英国的几家中间商。

Some of Cantor BioConnect’s blood samples are reasonably priced for the American market, industry experts said. But many said that the “premium inventory” price of $3,000 per milliliter was far higher than normal. And they all described the company’s price of $40,000 for a “seroconversion panel” of three blood donations from one patient as exorbitant.

行业专家说，康托尔公司的一些血液样本在美国市场上的定价是合理的。但许多人表示，每毫升 3000 美元的溢价库存价格远远高于正常水平。他们都认为公司的 4 万美元的血清转换小组的价格太高了，这个小组由一名病人捐献的三份血液组成。

The company said that its overall profit margin on the project was 30 to 40 percent, which it said was in line with industry norms. It said that the $40,000 price tag was for a “single transaction” of an extremely rare and valuable sample, and that it did not track the profit margin of each individual sample sold.

该公司表示，该项目的总体利润率为30%至40%，符合行业标准。该公司表示，这 4 万美元的价格标签是针对一笔极其稀有且有价值的样品交易的，它没有追踪每一笔样品的利润率。

Mr. Cantor outlined his costs per sample as the $100 donor fee, a maximum of $200 to ship the donation to his company and payment for a phlebotomist to collect the blood sample.

康托尔列出了每个样本的成本，包括 100 美元的献血费，将捐赠物品运送到他的公司的最高费用是 200 美元，以及让一名抽血医生收集血液样本的费用。

In response to further questions, he said in a statement that the process of collecting blood from Covid-19 positive donors was “complex” and “extremely difficult and costly” because of safety protocols and the small number of coronavirus cases known when he first started sourcing blood donations.

在回答进一步的问题时，他在一份声明中说，从 2019 新冠病毒阳性献血者身上采集血液的过程非常复杂、极其困难，而且成本高昂，因为安全规程和他第一次开始采集血液时已知的少量冠状病毒病例。

In a final step, Cantor BioConnect relies on a web of middlemen, companies that find buyers for its products around the world. Mr. Cantor declined to name his customers or partners, but documents show that Advy Chemical, a major biotech manufacturer in Mumbai, is one of his middlemen.

在最后一步，Cantor BioConnect 依靠一个中间商网络，这些公司在世界各地为其产品寻找买家。康托尔拒绝透露客户或合作伙伴的姓名，但文件显示，孟买一家大型生物技术制造商 Advy Chemical 是他的中间人之一。

The Indian company produces diagnostic kits and materials needed to develop tests for various diseases, which it then sells through its worldwide network of customers. It is certified by Germany’s safety regulator and licensed by India’s Food and Drug Administration.

这家印度公司生产用于开发各种疾病测试的诊断工具和材料，然后通过其全球客户网络销售。它通过了德国安全监管机构的认证，并获得了印度食品和药物管理局的许可。

According to emails and price lists reviewed by The Times, in the space of a single day its price for the cheapest blood samples more than doubled, to $950 a milliliter from $350, while “premium” inventory increased to $5,000 from $3,000. The most expensive blood sample was $50,000, an increase of $10,000 over Cantor BioConnect’s.

根据《纽约时报》看到的电子邮件和价目表，在一天之内，最便宜的血样的价格上涨了一倍多，从每毫升 350 美元涨到了 950 美元，而优质血样的价格则从每毫升 3000 美元涨到了 5000 美元。最昂贵的血样是 5 万美元，比康托尔公司的还贵了 1 万美元。

Asked why it had inflated the prices so greatly if it was merely a facilitator, the company cited “strict” nondisclosure agreements and said it would not comment on “business speculation and business specifics.”

当被问及如果仅仅是一家服务商，为什么会大幅抬高价格时，该公司援引了严格的保密协议，并表示不会对商业投机和商业细节发表评论。

The company strongly denied increasing prices by the amounts shown in the emails and price lists.

该公司强烈否认电子邮件和价格表显示的价格上涨幅度。

There is no doubt that market pressures are severe. In Britain, where the cost of human sample is usually low, scientists and manufacturers were shocked to be quoted $925 for a blood sample by a Scottish company called Tissue Solutions — far higher than the maximum $50 that they said they would normally pay hospitals.

毫无疑问，市场压力很大。在英国，人体样本的成本通常很低，一家名为“组织溶液”的苏格兰公司对一份血液样本的报价是 925 美元，远高于他们表示通常会支付给医院的最高 50 美元，这让科学家和制造商感到震惊。

Tissue Solutions’ chief executive, Morag McFarlane, said the company was not making a profit from the samples, which would violate England’s ban on third parties profiting from N.H.S. blood collections.

组织解决方案公司首席执行官 Morag McFarlane 表示，该公司没有从这些样本中获利，这将违反英国禁止第三方从英国国家卫生和健康委员会的血液收集中获利的禁令。

He said that its higher price was a result of hospital biobanks charging more to collect blood because of the complex nature of gathering potentially contagious Covid-19 samples.

他说，价格上涨是由于医院的生物库收取更多的采血费用，因为采集可能具有传染性的 Covid-19 样本的复杂性。

Such explanations, whatever their validity, did not go far with Ms. Jenkins, the would-be blood donor. After being told by a reporter how much money was being made from blood donations solicited by Cantor BioConnect, she said she had decided that she wanted “no part of it” and would instead donate her blood to a nonprofit clinic in Seattle.

不管这些解释是否正确，詹金斯这位未来的献血者都没能接受。一名记者告诉她，康托生物互联公司的献血活动获得了多少钱，她说，她决定不参与其中，而是把自己的血液捐给西雅图的一家非营利诊所。

“Anyone trying to take advantage of a pandemic,” she said, “I think that’s really sad and wrong.”

她说：“任何试图利用传染病大流行投机的投机者，我认为都是非常可悲和错误的。”

文章来源：The New York Times 南京医科大学小白老师翻译