Western drug companies are stepping up efforts to tackle corruption in China and work with the authorities to remove its causes, in the wake of damaging probes launched against the industry over the summer.

西方制药公司正加大努力应对在中国的腐败问题，并与有关部门合作消除源头，此前中国官方在今夏对该行业展开打击力较大的调查。

An internal memo jointly prepared by RDPAC, the trade body for foreign pharmaceutical businesses in China, and PhRMA, the association of US drug companies, recognises corruption as a “systemic challenge” in the country’s healthcare system.

由中国外商投资企业协会药品研制和开发行业委员会(RDPAC)和美国制药企业协会(PhRMA)联合编制的一份内部备忘录承认，腐败是中国医疗系统中的“系统性挑战”。

The document, which has been seen by the Financial Times, says it expects its members to follow the highest ethical standards and stresses that any “inappropriate behaviour” by companies outside its codes of conduct should be “dealt with swiftly”.

这份被《金融时报》看到的文件称，它期待其会员企业遵循最高的道德标准，并强调公司违反其行为准则的任何“不当行为”都应得到“迅速处理”。

It comes as China continues to escalate corruption, pricing and anti-competitive probes into drug companies, including several launched recently against domestic businesses following high-profile accusations against GlaxoSmithKline and other western medicine producers over the summer.

这份备忘录出炉之际，中国正进一步升级对医药企业的腐败、定价和垄断调查，包括近日几起针对国内企业的调查。此前当局在今夏对葛兰素史克(GlaxoSmithKline)等西方制药商发出高调指控。

No formal charges have yet been made, but other large manufacturers including Novartis, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, Sanofi, Lundbeck and Bayer have all received visits from Chinese government agencies in the past few weeks.

至今没有一家企业面临刑事指控，但其他大型药企，包括诺华(Novartis)、阿斯利康(AstraZeneca)、礼来(Eli Lilly)、赛诺菲(Sanofi)、灵北(Lundbeck)和拜耳(Bayer)，都在过去几周里接待了中国政府机构人员的造访。

The individual drug companies and RDPAC have previously said little in public about the probes, other than claiming they have long imposed high ethical and compliance standards in China and are actively co-operating with the authorities.

相关医药企业和RDPAC此前都未在公开场合具体说明调查内容，只是声明他们一直在中国实行高度的道德和合规标准，并积极与有关部门合作。

But in a more detailed recognition of the underlying difficulties of operating in China, the memo from the trade bodies calls for redoubled efforts by the industry to ensure the healthcare system adequately pays medical providers for patient care, and introduces principles for ethical behaviour across the sector.

但这份行业协会的备忘录以更多细节指出在华经营的根本性难题，呼吁行业加倍努力，以确保医疗系统向医护病患的医疗服务提供商支付足够费用，并在全行业引入道德行为准则。

The references reflect broader concerns raised in China that the authorities pay doctors only modest salaries, provide scant funding for continuing medical education and offer inadequate support to hospitals. This opens the way to industry-funded programmes designed to sell high-priced drugs which are open to potential claims of corruption.

这些内容反映出中国普遍存在的担忧，即当局仅向医生发放不高的薪酬，在持续医疗教育上拨款不足，以及对医院的支持不够。这为由行业资助的、旨在销售高价药物的计划敞开了大门，而这种做法容易受到潜在的腐败指控。

Separately, Richard Bergstrom, director-general of the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations, said he that would like to see talks for a free-trade agreement between the EU and China that would explicitly call for transparency and ethical practices in healthcare.

另外，欧洲制药工业协会联合会(EFPIA)总干事理查德·伯格斯坦(Richard Bergstrom)表示，他希望看到欧盟和中国之间就自由贸易协定举行谈判，此类协定将明确号召医疗行业贯彻透明度和道德实践。

He cited as a model the agreement approved in 2011 between the EU and South Korea, which requires “ethical practices by manufacturers and suppliers of pharmaceutical products and medical devices and by healthcare providers on a global basis in order to achieve open, transparent, accountable and non-discriminatory healthcare decision-making”.

他以2011年欧盟和韩国达成的一项协定为典范，该协定要求“医药产品及医疗器材的制造商和供应商，以及医疗服务提供商，须在全球范围内采用道德实践，以实现公开、透明、有问责机制和非歧视性的医疗决策”。

Drug companies are already coming under fresh scrutiny over their business practices in many more industrialised countries, while the US Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act are extending the scrutiny and threat of fines in relation to their operations in other markets.

医药公司的业务活动已在很多工业化国家受到新的关注，而美国《反海外腐败法》(Foreign Corrupt Practices Act)和英国《反贿赂法》(Bribery Act)正扩大审查范围，威胁将对企业在其它市场的违规操作处以罚款。