Business Adjustments, An Olive Branch from a Cosmetics Group

Over the next few days, Chinese and foreign media outlets continuously came to Sanqing Pharmaceutical for interviews. Some had been brought in by Pfizer Inc. for advance publicity, and Wei Kang cooperated fully with them.

He avoided all the others. Being interviewed once or twice was fine, but having people come every day was far too annoying. Was he supposed to stop working altogether?

He still had a mountain of things to handle.

Early one morning, Wei Kang arrived at the company in high spirits and convened a senior management meeting.

The heads of every department sat in the conference room, rosy-cheeked and beaming. Every pair of eyes turned toward Director Wei with fervor and excitement.

Wei Kang swept his gaze around the room and began.

"Everyone, today's meeting is mainly to discuss adjustments to our business."

Everyone immediately perked up their ears, listening intently while taking careful notes.

Wei Kang's authority in their hearts was now completely different from before. He had already reached the same standing as Old Director Wei.

Wei Kang was very pleased with their attitude and continued.

"Everyone knows that the company's anti-cancer drug has secured a major contract. So our business will undergo some adjustments next."

"First, we'll shut down all production lines for drugs that aren't very profitable. Most of them are broad-spectrum generics whose patent protection has expired. The vast majority of pharmaceutical companies produce them, so competition is too fierce and profits are too low."

"Of course, some of those drugs are still under contract. For now, we'll use all our production lines to make them. Once those contracts end, we can cease production entirely."

The reason those generic drugs could make money was either because they were included on the medical insurance bureau's procurement list, or because they were given new names, repackaged, and sold again at high prices.

Sanqing had always disdained doing the latter. Now that it had new drugs, there was naturally no further need for those low-profit generics.

Sanqing's pharmaceutical production lines were fairly simple, mostly solid dosage production lines focused on powders, granules, tablets, capsules, and the like. There were only two or three liquid dosage lines, so changes to the production plan would not have much impact.

"In roughly three or four months, approval for the new drug should come through. By then, all production lines will be used to manufacture it."

Fan Chengdong, the production department manager, nodded. "Understood, Director Wei. I'll immediately rearrange the production schedule. The new drug's production definitely won't be delayed."

"That's only the first step. Once Pfizer's five-hundred-million-dollar upfront payment arrives, we'll move on to the second step: purchasing new production lines and carrying out technological upgrades."

"Everyone knows that most of our production lines are old machines from many years ago. We've always followed two principles: if it works, it works; make do with it. Some of these machines may be nearly as old as I am, and they need to be upgraded and replaced."

"Old Fan, make me a list. Once we've finalized it, we'll have the procurement department buy them."

Fan Chengdong nodded excitedly. "No problem, Director Wei. These machines are far too old and really do break down often. It's time to replace them."

He suddenly gave a heh heh laugh and said somewhat sheepishly, "Director Wei, in recent years, this concept of intelligent pharmaceutical manufacturing has become quite popular—automated and intelligent production lines and all that. Everyone says they're great. I've been envious for ages."

Wei Kang waved a hand with great flair. "If we're buying, we'll buy the most advanced, top-tier pharmaceutical production lines. We're not short on money now. Scrap all those old machines that keep malfunctioning. We're going to build a world-class, fully automated and intelligent production line. Automatic feeding, automatic warehousing, automatic packaging, intelligent control systems—we want all of it."

Fan Chengdong laughed heh heh, rubbing his hands together in delight like a child who had just spotted a shiny new toy.

Zhao Xiaojie, the head of procurement, also clenched his fists excitedly. Normally, he only purchased active pharmaceutical ingredients, and the amounts involved were not large. How could that compare to the thrill of procurement orders worth tens of millions for pharmaceutical equipment?

Wei Kang smiled at Zhao Xiaojie. "Old Zhao, you'll have plenty to keep you busy. Don't forget that the laboratory also needs a laboratory information management system to achieve paperless management and effective internal data transmission and sharing."

"This is the information age. Corporate informatization and intelligence are extremely important. We need to build them properly from the very beginning, laying a solid foundation for the company's future development."

"Alright, that was the second step. Next comes the third step." Wei Kang looked at Sun Chengren, who had been smiling quietly to one side. "Uncle Sun, the company's current land area is sufficient, but once we develop further, it definitely won't be enough."

"We currently have only three factory buildings, one office building, and one residential building. There's also an empty lot past the residential building. I plan to build an R&D center there and move the laboratory out of the office building in the future."

"Then, Old Sun, take a look around and see whether there's any suitable land nearby. We can buy it now and build a large production base there later."

"This place will become our headquarters then, mainly housing the R&D center and other functional departments. We can also improve the surroundings, making it much more pleasant to work here in the future."

"Everyone, these are the company's main directions for adjustment at present." Wei Kang turned serious. "The company's future growth and expansion will depend entirely on you."

A round of applause broke out. Everyone nodded repeatedly, their faces filled with beautiful expectations for the future.

After the meeting ended, Wei Kang called in Li Zhong, the head of the R&D team.

Over the next few days, those pharmaceutical companies would be sending over the materials on their abandoned formulas.

He needed to arrange for the laboratory staff to categorize those materials first. With over two hundred sets of documents, there was simply no way he could review them all alone.

Those that had failed toxicology testing would go into one category, while those that had passed would go into another.

Those with unsatisfactory efficacy in Phase II clinical trials would go into one category, while those that had achieved the expected efficacy but had side effects too severe for use would go into another.

That would be much more efficient. After all, he was also the company owner, with a whole team of assistants beneath him. There was no need for him to spend every day buried in the lab doing such tedious work as sorting abandoned formulas himself.

Once the more than two hundred sets of materials had been organized, they would be compiled into a new document and reported to him. He could then make his selections and extract suitable side effects from them.

During this period, the media harassed him on one hand but did not remain idle on the other.

News that Sanqing Pharmaceutical and Pfizer Inc. had reached the largest licensing partnership in domestic history flooded the internet and television.

Sanqing Group became famous overnight.

Discussion of Sanqing's anti-cancer drug remained fervent as well, successively occupying several top trending searches on Langbo.

Wei Kang also made several Langbo posts, uploading photos of the signed agreement.

The media ran a comprehensive, no-holds-barred feature on Sanqing's anti-cancer drug, lavishly praising its effects while also introducing in detail the effects and clinical data of the Whitening and Spot-Removing Drug.

They even made Wei Kang the subject of a headline article, which was shared countless times: "If you're twenty and still not working hard, the world will soon leave you behind—look at what someone your age has achieved!"

It detailed how Wei Kang had excelled academically since childhood, devoted himself wholeheartedly to studying, worked diligently in scientific research, and finally became an outstanding young billionaire in his twenties, with a net worth of tens of billions.

The article made Wei Kang's face twitch. Covering his face, he sighed repeatedly. Damn it, this was just making people resent him. Those unscrupulous media outlets really were unreliable—they only knew how to ruin his reputation as an entrepreneur for the people.

He wasn't the kind of grindset fool who treated 996 as a blessing.

Besides, what had his success relied on? Others might not know, but how could he not know himself?

Without the system, where would his ten-billion fortune have come from? What the hell did it have to do with striving or hard work?

So he quickly posted on Langbo to clarify: "I'm untalented and poorly educated. Developing new drugs relies entirely on luck. Lying flat is my greatest love in life. I absolutely do not strive or work hard!"

It instantly drew an enthusiastic crowd of netizens.

"President Wei's survival instincts are so strong!"

"Hehe, President Wei, you can still work a little harder."

"President Wei, hurry up and strive! Invent a new drug every day—I definitely won't blame you."

"Get grinding, get grinding! I want an immortality drug."

After posting on Langbo, Wei Kang stopped paying attention to it.

Because over the next few days, he had another major matter to deal with.

The olive branch from the cosmetics conglomerates he had been waiting for had finally arrived.

At that moment, sitting on the table before him were inquiries from three international cosmetics giants regarding the Whitening Drug formula.

Oulaiya Group, Shiseido Group, and Procter & Gamble Company.

"What was meant to come has finally come."

Wei Kang smiled with satisfaction.