Nobel Prize Heavyweight

"What happened?"

Murphy was stunned. It had only just begun, and it was already over?

They had dug a pit in the living room—step through the door and straight into the grave, huh.

"The Committee on Safety of Medicines is demanding that we conduct clinical trials first. They're preparing to issue a ban prohibiting White Medicine from continuing to be sold," Patrick said.

"Once the ban comes down, the penalties for breaching our orders alone will be enough to give us a headache."

Murphy frowned. "Blue Mountain Group?"

"Not just them. There's also Wellcome, Glaxo Pharmaceuticals, Zeneca..."

The companies Patrick mentioned were all British pharmaceutical giants. In terms of scale, they were far beyond anything Blue Mountain could compare with, and to the current Umbrella Corporation, they were even more colossal.

"They're the most influential pharmaceutical companies in fields like anti-inflammatory, pain relief, and antibacterial drugs, but White Medicine has directly destroyed their market in trauma treatment."

"Besides putting pressure through the Committee on Safety of Medicines, they've also stirred up public opinion. Right now, the BBC and quite a few other media outlets are questioning White Medicine's safety."

The BBC, huh. Masters of subtle sniping.

Murphy wasn't really surprised. After all, the pie was only so big, and when real money was involved, no tactic they used would be strange.

"Do we have any other options?" Murphy asked.

"Zeneca has expressed an interest in acquiring us," Patrick said. "In fact, these companies have all had people approach me, openly or otherwise, to hint at acquisition intentions."

"In their dreams!" Murphy said without even thinking. "But you can talk to them. Buying time is good too."

"Has the clinical license come through yet?"

Patrick shook his head. "They're trying to wear us down. It's unlikely they'll issue approval in the short term."

"Didn't you say last time that clinical approval is a little easier in the United States? Apply over there, then. Or France. In any case, get approval as quickly as possible."

"But the Committee on Safety of Medicines can refuse to recognize approval from other countries."

"That's fine. At least we can give those willing to believe us a little more evidence to defend us with."

"All right." Patrick nodded. "Right, there's one more thing."

As he spoke, he turned on the television in the room. A news channel was broadcasting footage from the scene of a fire.

Murphy glanced at the headline. "London Cross Street Underground Fire! Hundreds Trapped! Injured Have Reached Forty-Seven..."

He casually flipped through a few channels. They were all covering the same incident.

Murphy glanced at Patrick. This is tragic and all, but I'm not a firefighter. Why are you making me watch this?

"I want to use this opportunity to donate White Medicine to the injured. White Medicine is very effective on burns too. As long as it's sprayed on in time, even severely burned areas can recover very well..."

"If we guide the media a little, maybe it'll improve our public image."

Murphy looked at the television. The matter seemed to have blown up pretty big, and it looked like media across the whole of Britain was paying attention. If they took advantage of the cameras focused on this, as Patrick suggested, maybe it really could bring White Medicine some positive traffic.

But after thinking it over carefully, Murphy still gave up on the idea.

"Go donate some White Medicine, but keep it low-key. Don't make too much of a show of it."

The attention drawn by a disaster carried tremendous inciting power, enough to turn an ordinary person into a hero overnight.

But at the same time, that emotionally charged gaze could also cause enormous destruction. It was just as easy for it to ruin someone overnight.

Murphy didn't think the current Umbrella Corporation could control that kind of power.

"But public opinion is very unfavorable for us. Wellcome and the others have a lot of famous experts. If they speak out against White Medicine, then even without a ban, our sales will take a major hit."

Murphy also felt a headache coming on. Having a good product was one thing, but getting buyers to believe your product was good was another matter entirely.

"But don't use this method. The fire is currently right in the eye of the storm. If it's handled badly, we'll get burned ourselves. Think again. Is there any other way?"

Patrick pondered for a while, then said, "Perhaps we can strike first and find some experts to clear our name."

That was a good idea. Murphy nodded. "Do you have suitable candidates?"

"Yes!"

"Do you remember the growth factors I mentioned to you? The way White Medicine works is somewhat similar to the rumored growth factors. And last year, the discovery of growth factors won the Nobel Prize. If it were that lady, she should be very useful."

"Who?"

"Last year's Nobel Prize winner. Rita Levi-Montalcini. She's Italian, but she's a very active scientist and very influential throughout Europe."

"She has a lecture at Cambridge soon, but for a heavyweight like her, I don't have any suitable channels. She may not agree to meet us."

Murphy thought for a moment. "I'll give it a try."

Cambridge, Silver Street.

Murphy walked into Darwin College, University of Cambridge.

Since last year, Darwin College had invited authoritative scholars from various fields every year to hold several lectures in Lady Mitchell Hall.

And today's speaker was Rita Levi-Montalcini.

Murphy arrived very early, so he took a walk around the campus.

Looking at the university students hurrying to and fro, he suddenly felt something he had not felt in a long time, and even his mood seemed to improve quite a bit.

After mooching two slices of beef at a small barbecue party, Murphy made his way to the venue.

By now, the auditorium was already packed, but as Murphy walked through, people unconsciously made way for him. Even when he reached the front row, a male student suddenly stood up and left as if he had remembered something important, giving his seat to Murphy.

This was the effect you got when you cast the Muggle-Repelling Charm on yourself, or aimed it at a specific person or object.

Murphy sat down in the front row without the slightest politeness.

After waiting a while, the lecture began, and an elegant old lady with graying hair walked onto the stage.

"Oh, this really is surprising," the old lady began. "So many young people actually came to listen to an old woman ramble. Just now, when they told me this place would be full, I thought they were teasing me."

The topic of today's lecture was "The Growth of Nerves." Rita began with how, during World War II, she had observed the neural development of chicken embryos in her own bedroom, then went on to describe her research into neural development and the mechanisms behind it. It was precisely this research that had led her to discover growth factors and win the Nobel Prize.

Rita was a very good speaker, able to make the dry process of scientific discovery vivid and engaging.

The chance to listen in person to a lecture by a Nobel Prize heavyweight was truly rare, and Murphy listened with great interest, almost forgetting his own purpose.

When the lecture ended, Rita returned backstage amid thunderous applause, and Murphy hurriedly followed her there.

Passing through the crowd without the slightest obstruction, he came to Rita's side. "Professor, may I take up a little of your time? I have a Nobel Prize-level discovery I'd like to discuss with you."

"Oh, young man, then you should hurry and publish your paper."

All right, that line really was not enough to catch a big shot's attention.

"I've discovered a drug that can repair damaged nerve cells in an extremely short period of time!"

"Peripheral nerve repair is already a normal mechanism. With the promotion of certain growth factors, acceleration is entirely possible. But if you've found the precise molecular pathway, that would also make for a very good graduation thesis. If you have questions in that area, we can correspond by letter."

"What if the repair is completed within just a few minutes?"

"That's impossible," Rita said. "Biological chemical processes can be very fast on the microscopic level, but on the macroscopic level, the generation and deployment of large amounts of material, along with the inhibitory effects of damaged tissue and scar cells, would greatly slow the repair process. Even under in vitro conditions, it would be very difficult to complete repair within a few minutes."

Murphy smiled. The conversation had already entered territory he was familiar with.

"I can show you."