"The Lancet" Oncology Treatment Paper Published

After receiving Andre's call, Wei Kang was somewhat surprised. He had not expected the overseas launch to get held up at the FDA approval stage.

However, once he heard that Merck was behind it, he immediately understood.

With a market worth over ten billion dollars a year, it would have been strange if no one tried to suppress them over such a huge piece of meat.

Andre assured him that he would find the right connections and resolve the issue as soon as possible.

All Wei Kang could do was wait for further news.

It seemed that the two-billion-dollar milestone payment would arrive later than expected.

For now, he could only focus all his efforts on conquering the domestic market.

He looked into Merck's broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug, Keytruda, in the domestic market.

Keytruda had not been approved for many treatment indications domestically—only a handful, such as lung cancer, melanoma, and colon cancer.

Abroad, however, Keytruda had been approved to treat more than twenty types of cancer.

Keytruda had a uniform domestic price of eighteen thousand yuan per box, with only one vial inside. It was administered intravenously once every three weeks. Taking a patient weighing fifty kilograms as an example, each dose required one 100mg/4ml vial, costing over seventy thousand yuan in total for three months.

At first glance, that price might not seem entirely unaffordable. But cancer patients generally required medication over long periods. One box might not cost much, but once the quantity increased, the expenses became enormous.

For patients using Keytruda, three months was only one course of treatment. Further treatment depended on the individual's condition.

Although Merck also promoted charitable drug donation programs, cancer patients generally still had to pay around three hundred thousand yuan a year out of pocket for treatment.

For many patients from ordinary families, treatment costs of several hundred thousand yuan a year were simply too much to bear.

The same specification of Keytruda sold by Merck in Europa cost around ten thousand yuan per vial, far cheaper than its price in China.

But overall, whether at home or abroad, the cost of anti-cancer drugs was a burden few could bear.

Most importantly, Keytruda had not been included in medical insurance coverage and could only be paid for out of pocket, making matters even worse for families that were not well-off to begin with.

So, Wei Kang's path to defeating Keytruda in the domestic market was actually quite simple.

One word: price!

As long as the price of the Sanqing Anti-Cancer Drug came down, it could absolutely sweep the domestic market.

And once the price dropped, it could be included in centralized medical insurance procurement, so sales would no longer be a problem.

Most anti-cancer drugs were unable to enter centralized medical insurance procurement precisely because their prices were too high and could not be reduced.

Moreover, the Sanqing Anti-Cancer Drug was highly effective and had virtually no side effects. Basically, one course of treatment could cure a patient. Although there was no guarantee against later recurrence, one month of treatment was already quite affordable compared with the treatment cycles of other anti-cancer drugs.

Even for self-paying patients who did not qualify for medical insurance, as long as the price remained reasonable, its miraculous efficacy would crush every other anti-cancer drug.

What was more, the Sanqing Anti-Cancer Drug was domestically produced. The state would certainly support it vigorously, and it already possessed unique advantages in the domestic market. At the very least, patients using Sanqing would not have to worry about supply cuts or shortages.

In addition, Sheng Changya's project proposal for whitening products had also won his approval.

He had already allocated funds to Sheng Changya, instructing her to establish a cosmetics company and begin developing, seeking approval for, and putting whitening products into production.

The development and production of cosmetics were not an issue. There were mature beauty-product OEM factories on the market, as well as established product-line formulas. They only needed to add the Whitening Drug ingredients and adjust them into suitable product lines; once payment was made, production could begin.

Like the health supplements, this segment would temporarily be outsourced. Sanqing was currently devoting all its efforts to preparing for the production of the New Anti-Cancer Drug.

Whitening products, however, fell under the category of special cosmetics, and approval would take some time.

That period could be used for marketing campaigns.

In short, everything depended on Sheng Changya's capabilities. If she could handle the entire project, he could naturally entrust the whole cosmetics company to her in the future.

If she could not, he would find another professional team to take over the company.

Having made up his mind, Wei Kang got up and headed to Kun City First People's Hospital.

He could not skip the follow-up examination he had promised to undergo.

This time, Jian Lianyun accompanied him again. There was no need to wait in line, and he went straight through the full set of examinations.

After reviewing the report, Jian Lianyun let out a breath and smiled in satisfaction. "No cancer cells can be detected in your body anymore. Congratulations—you've been completely cured."

Seeing Wei Kang's delighted expression, she quickly added, "You got liver cancer before because of your unhealthy lifestyle habits. You must take better care of yourself from now on. Don't drink or smoke, and don't stay up late every day. That's the only way to stay healthy. Otherwise, if it recurs, you'll have to suffer all over again."

Wei Kang nodded in agreement. Seeing that Jian Lianyun was still looking at him with delight, he could not help touching his face and asking in confusion, "What is it? I remember washing my face. Did something grow on it?"

Jian Lianyun raised a finger to her lips and shushed him. Then she looked around and confirmed that there was no one else in the office.

Overjoyed, she said, "I have two pieces of good news to tell you. Which one do you want to hear first?"

Wei Kang froze. "Two pieces of good news? Isn't it usually one piece of good news and one piece of bad news?"

Jian Lianyun's expression changed. "Do you even want to hear them?"

Wei Kang smiled wryly. "Do I have a choice? Just tell me one at a time."

Jian Lianyun said happily, "One of the pieces of good news is actually mine, but it counts as yours too, so I'll tell you that one first."

"I recorded all the clinical trial data from patients who used the Sanqing Anti-Cancer Drug, then wrote a paper and published it in the top international clinical oncology journal, Lancet Oncology (The Lancet—Oncology, impact factor 36.4)."

"Since you developed the anti-cancer drug, I included your name as well."

"However..." A blush rose to her face. Lowering her head, she said softly, "Because this paper is quite important to our Oncology Department, I only listed you as the second author. If you mind, I can give you first authorship."

"Haha, no need, no need." Wei Kang could not help laughing. "Dr. Jian, you're being too polite. This paper had nothing to do with me in the first place. It would have been fine even if I weren't credited at all. It's the work of the doctors in your department."

He scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed. "Why would a pharmaceutical company owner like me need a paper? It can't sell for much money anyway, haha."

But when he thought about it carefully, he could not help feeling excited. "I'm just some self-taught master's graduate in pharmaceuticals, yet I actually got a paper published in a top international journal. The impact factor must be pretty high, right? That counts as an academic achievement too, haha."

Jian Lianyun smiled and handed him a printed journal. "This is a printout of the electronic edition of The Lancet Oncology. The physical journal is still being mailed out. Once it arrives, I'll give you a copy."

Wei Kang took it and happily flipped to the paper bearing his name. It was all in English. It was not that he could not understand any of it, but reading it was rather difficult.

After all, writing papers had never been his strong suit back then. He happily put it away and continued asking, "Thank you so much. Then what's the other piece of good news?"

Jian Lianyun clapped her hands. "Ah, I almost forgot. It's like this..."

She then told him about using the anticancer drug to treat Academician Qi's pancreatic cancer. She did not go into too much detail, only saying that Academician Qi happened to be her father Jian Guohua's patient, so after the surgery, they had recommended this drug. Its effects had been excellent.

Academician Qi was now out of danger, and his condition had stabilized. The cancer cells in his body had stopped metastasizing, and his body was steadily recovering. Even taking his age into account, she believed he could be completely cured within three months.

"So that's what happened. After Academician Qi woke up, he was especially happy and specifically asked me to convey his gratitude to you. He's extremely thankful that you invented such a powerful anticancer drug and saved his life."

"However, he's still hospitalized for treatment. Once he has fully recovered, he'll come personally to thank you."

"Also, Academician Qi said it would be such a shame if such a miraculous anticancer drug could not be brought to market as soon as possible. So he'll do everything he can to push the approval process forward and hopes it can be specially approved for rapid release."

This good news had come too fast, like a tornado, instantly swallowing Wei Kang whole.

It took him a moment to fully process everything, and then he was overwhelmed with joy.

At the same time, he could not stop himself from breaking into a wide grin.

"Dr. Jian, you're really too kind. I honestly don't know how to thank you."

"This is such great news—exactly what I needed, hahaha."

"Dr. Jian, I have to treat you to a meal. You absolutely can't refuse."

Chapter Forty had been posted without any issues at the time, but it got blocked a month later. It was currently being appealed for unblocking, which was really frustrating.