阅读理解 A US drug company has increased the price of an acne cream by more than 3,900% to $9,561 in less than 18 months in the latest example of drug "price cheating", which has enraged the American public and become a central topic of debate in the presidential election campaign.
Novum Pharma, a recently formed privately held Chicago-based company, bought the rights to drug Aloquin in May 2015. The 60g cream, which contains two cheap ingredients, was sold by its previous owner, Primus Pharmaceuticals, for $241.50. Novum almost immediately increased the price by 1,100%, and hiked the price higher still in January 2016. Figures seen by the Financial Times show the company increased the price a third time last week to take the cost to $9,561.
So-called "price cheating", in which companies buy the rights to older drugs and then vastly increase their cost, has provoked outrage across the country and led to calls for reform of the US healthcare system.
Earlier this month, Hillary Clinton claimed "It's time to move beyond talking about these price hikes and start acting to address them. All Americans deserve full access to the medications they need— without being burdened by excessive, unjustified costs." Clinton said she would change the law to allow the "emergency importation" of safe alternative treatments from abroad.
Aloquin contains two cheap active ingredients: a decades-old antibiotic, iodoquinol, and an extract from the aloe vera plant. Iodoquinol can be bought for as little as $30 a tube and aloe vera cream costs a few dollars.
The drug is labelled as "possibly effective", as the US Food and Drug Administration has stated that there is only limited evidence that the drug is effective.
Novum has also drastically increased the price of its other two skin creams, Alcortin A and Novacort. The drugs are prescription only, with the cost being mostly covered by health insurance or government assistance. In instances when the full cost of the treatment isn't covered by insurance, Novum provides coupons to reduce the proportion that patients have to pay, while collecting the rest from the health plan.
The company, which is privately held and does not publish figures on sales or profits, did not reply to requests for comment. A spokesman told the public that the firm was founded by "a group of like-minded investors who believe in the firm's focus of providing therapeutic innovations that are affordable for patients".
单选题 36.According to the first two paragraphs, Novum Pharma______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。根据定位词定位到第一、二段。第一段提到美国诺威姆公司药品价格上涨激怒了美国的民众,故C项为正确选项。
单选题 37.The price of the Aloquin is considered as cheating for______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。根据定位词定位到第三段。该段中提到了“price cheating”(“价格欺骗”),即“公司买下之前药品的生产权,之后大幅提升其价格”,所以Aloquin的定价被认为是欺骗,原因是之前药品价格很低,之后售价急剧上升,故C项为正确选项。
单选题 38.The quotation of Clinton indicates that______.
【正确答案】 A
【答案解析】事实细节题。根据定位词定位到第四段。该段引用了Hillary Clinton对于“价格欺骗”这种情况的声明,她认为应当“允许国外的安全可替换药物‘紧急进口’”,故A项为正确选项。
单选题 39.The other two skin creams by Novum______.
【正确答案】 B
【答案解析】事实细节题。根据定位词定位到第七段。该段中关于诺威姆药业的其他两款护肤霜,“这些药品仅仅是处方药”,所以只能由医生开具处方,故B项为正确选项。
单选题 40.The response of Novum shows that______.
【正确答案】 C
【答案解析】推理判断题。根据定位词定位到最后一段。该段提到诺威姆药业的反应,“发言人告诉公众,该公司是由‘一群志同道合的投资者建立的,他们认为公司的焦点在于为病患提供经济实惠的治疗创新品’”,故C项为正确选项。