Chapter Summaries

Wei Kang used his more than one million points to upgrade the Intelligent Laboratory System into an AI Pharmaceutical System. The upgrade began at Sanqing Group’s AI Pharmaceutical Laboratory and was expected to finish overnight, promising to accelerate drug research and medical simulations.

• Wei Kang checked the system and found that he had 1,088,888 points, earned by patients taking his medicines.
• Wei Kang confirmed that the Intelligent Laboratory System could be upgraded into an AI Pharmaceutical System for one million points.
• Wei Kang ordered the system to upgrade the laboratory system, and it produced a golden cube.
• Wei Kang installed the cube on the laboratory’s control server, where the upgrade began with an estimated completion time of 03:00 that night.
• Wei Kang anticipated that the upgraded system would strengthen drug development and medical simulations once it was running.

Wei Kang met the lifelike AI Number One, named her Anmei, and made her Sanqing Pharmaceutical’s Chief Information Officer and his electronic secretary. Anmei uncovered a spy named Williams, and Wei Kang decided to monitor him and exploit his skills before reporting him.

• Wei Kang met Number One, who explained that she was highly intelligent but lacked independent consciousness.
• Wei Kang named Number One Anmei and appointed her Sanqing Pharmaceutical’s Chief Information Officer and electronic secretary.
• Anmei detected that a researcher had installed a backdoor after receiving an email from an agency in Eagle Country.
• Anmei identified the researcher as Williams, a skilled biologist and hacker with a false identity and résumé.
• Wei Kang ordered Anmei to monitor Williams, let him leak only unimportant information, and assign him as much work as possible before eventually reporting him.

Sanqing employees discovered that their systems had been upgraded by Anmei, a new remote-working CIO, while Wenren Long tried and failed to strike up a conversation with her. At the Biology Laboratory, Tang Que seized on the publication of the first complete human genome sequence to launch Sanqing’s gene therapy effort against rare hereditary diseases.

• Sanqing employees noticed faster, improved systems and learned that Anmei had joined as CIO, while Wenren Long exchanged messages with her and learned she worked remotely because of Social Anxiety Disorder.
• Researchers at the Biology Laboratory celebrated the publication of the first complete, gapless human genome sequence by the Telomere-to-Telomere Consortium.
• The laboratory discussed how the new genome data could help reveal genetic mutations behind diseases, including the mutation responsible for sickle hemoglobin.
• Tang Que announced that Sanqing was entering gene therapy and would declare war on rare hereditary diseases.

Tang Que rallied his employees to pursue gene therapy and chose spinal muscular atrophy as their first target, aiming to develop an affordable gene therapy that could challenge the high-priced treatments already on the market. The chapter ended with the team fired up to become “cost killers” and make SMA treatment accessible.

• Tang Que addressed his employees after presenting the history and growth of gene therapy, then asked for their questions and suggestions.
• Jiang Kai asked how the team would select a rare disease to target, and Tang Que said they would begin with mature, expensive gene therapies and improve on existing methods.
• Tang Que quizzed the staff on the world's most expensive drug, and they identified Novartis's Zolgensma, its use for SMA, and its price of 2.1 million US dollars.
• Tang Que explained how Zolgensma, Biogen's Spiraza, and Roche's Evrysdi treated SMA and compared their prices and treatment requirements.
• Tang Que declared that his team would develop its own SMA gene therapy drug to bring prices down and make treatment affordable for patients.

Tang Que argued that medicines lost their purpose if patients could not afford them, then outlined Three Purities's plan to develop treatments for Spinal Muscular Atrophy. He left the research team ready to pursue both gene replacement and SMN2-targeting approaches.

• Tang Que declared that drugs no one could afford had lost their reason for existing, earning fervent applause from the researchers at Three Purities.
• Tang Que explained that Biogen's drug had entered medical insurance but required lifelong treatment and repeated lumbar punctures, so the team would not target it.
• Tang Que described how SMA resulted from insufficient SMN protein and explained the roles of the SMN1 and SMN2 genes.
• Tang Que compared Novartis's one-time gene therapy with Roche's lifelong oral drug and criticized the latter's high price.
• Tang Que announced that Three Purities would develop its own proprietary drug using both treatment approaches.

Tang Que discovered that Three Purities’ new AICell software had accelerated the laboratory’s replication of competing gene therapy drugs and viral vectors. He chose to begin developing a gene therapy using Slow Virus Vectors, leaving the team to investigate its safety and design.

• Wei Kang approved Tang Que’s plans and suggested using the company’s AI for drug screening and gene vector design.
• Tang Que organized the biology laboratory into teams to replicate existing drugs and vectors as a foundation for developing Three Purities’ own treatments.
• Jiang Kai and a colleague reported that AICell had helped them rapidly reproduce Novartis’s Z drug and construct an AVV9 vector, while another small-molecule project also advanced quickly.
• Tang Que reviewed the data, confirmed the results, and recognized that AICell could simulate genes, proteins, cells, organs, and their interactions.
• Tang Que weighed the risks and benefits of Slow Virus and Adenovirus Vectors, then chose to research Slow Virus Vectors first, prioritizing genomic design and safety simulations.

Huang Qin and Williams celebrated a successful cell experiment for Sanqing’s SMA gene therapy, bringing the project closer to animal testing and clinical trials. Williams learned that Sanqing intended to make the treatment affordable, which Huang Qin said would leave rival drugmakers with nowhere to go.

• Huang Qin arrived at the laboratory and reflected on how much he had learned from his colleague Williams.
• Huang Qin entered the laboratory and joined his team as they celebrated a successful cell experiment with results matching their expectations.
• Williams said the next step was animal testing and speculated that a single treatment could sell for two million dollars.
• Williams asked how Sanqing would price the therapy, and Huang Qin reminded him that Director Tang had said it would be affordable for every patient.
• Williams was stunned by Sanqing’s plan and predicted that Novartis and Roche’s SMA drugs would be finished.

Chen Jianfeng and his wife agonized over which of their two children with SMA they could afford to treat, knowing they had only enough money for one. A late-night message announced a free clinical trial for a gene therapy that could cure SMA, and the couple decided to take both children to apply.

• Chen Jianfeng returned home after delivering takeout, and he and his wife discussed their debts and the need to choose one child for treatment.
• Chen Jianfeng recalled how both Nini and Xiao Jian had developed SMA and how their family had struggled to afford care.
• Chen Jianfeng and his wife decided to treat Nini first, then try to save enough money to treat Xiao Jian.
• Chen Jianfeng's wife woke him after seeing a group-chat message that Sanqing Pharmaceutical was recruiting patients for a free SMA gene-therapy clinical trial.
• Chen Jianfeng decided to take both children to Kun City First People's Hospital the next morning, and he and his wife embraced with relief.

Chen Jianfeng enrolled his two children in Sanqing’s free SMA clinical trial, believing their family’s long struggle was about to end. As the first patients prepared for treatment, Sanqing’s new therapy sparked intense online debate over the cost of imported gene drugs and access to lifesaving medicine.

• Chen Jianfeng waited with his wife at Kun City First People's Hospital as families brought children with SMA to apply for Sanqing’s clinical trial.
• Doctors filled the roughly thirty Phase I slots in one morning, and Chen Jianfeng successfully enrolled both of his children.
• The first group of patients was taken for clinical examinations before receiving intravenous treatment, and Chen Jianfeng felt hopeful about his family’s future.
• News of Sanqing’s treatment spread online, with media comparing it to imported drugs costing as much as fourteen million yuan per injection.
• Netizens argued over pharmaceutical research costs, drug-company profits, and whether critically ill children should be able to afford gene therapy.

Public outrage over exorbitantly priced medicines highlighted the challenge of treating rare diseases, while Sanqing’s Phase I Gene Drug trial produced dramatic recoveries in all thirty children with severe SMA. The children were discharged after two weeks, and their families shared photos of their recovery, prompting other parents to react.

• Novartis's chief executive officer defended high drug prices by comparing them with the cost of organ transplants in Eagle Country, triggering public calls to boycott imported medicines and support domestic drugs.
• Sanqing’s researchers monitored all thirty children after they received intravenous Gene Drug injections in the Phase I clinical trial.
• Chen Jianfeng’s daughter Nini removed her ventilator, breathed on her own, and spoke to her father as her strength returned.
• The other children also improved rapidly, regaining the ability to breathe, swallow, sit, and stand as tests showed their SMA protein levels had reached those of healthy individuals.
• After two weeks, all thirty children were discharged, and Chen Jianfeng left the hospital with his two children after treatment and care had changed his family’s prospects.
• Parents posted photos of the recovered children in Patient Support Groups, stirring other families into action.

After Sanqing’s SMA gene therapy trials filled and the company announced successful results, Wei Kang vowed to pursue treatments for other rare diseases. The announcement drove rival drugmakers to slash prices, while Chinese patients and families awaited Sanqing’s drug and speculated about its price.

• SMA patient groups responded to Nini’s recovery, and parents rushed to apply for the trials; the Phase II and then Phase III slots filled quickly.
• Wei Kang announced Sanqing’s successful SMA gene therapy and presented the Phase I and Phase II reports at a press conference.
• Chinese reporters and netizens praised Sanqing, while SMA families celebrated the prospect of an affordable domestic treatment.
• Novartis, Biogen, and Roche discussed cutting their SMA drug prices after Sanqing’s announcement.
• The three companies’ stock prices fell by 20%, and they announced price cuts starting at 50%; Chinese patients and families began guessing the price of Sanqing’s drug.

Sanqing executives set the SMA gene drug’s price at 300,000 yuan per injection domestically and opened a charitable medication donation channel for patients in extreme poverty. Wei Kang then learned that a celebrity’s family member had come to Sanqing seeking help and agreed to meet him.

• Wei Kang told Sanqing’s executives that the SMA gene drug could reach the market in about two months after its Phase III trial, and they discussed its price.
• Tang Que argued against pricing the drug at the market rate of several million, while other executives urged a balance between affordability and costs.
• Wei Kang set the domestic price at 300,000 yuan per injection and the overseas price at 300,000 U.S. dollars.
• Wei Kang announced that extremely impoverished patients could apply for charitable medication donations from Three Purities.
• The administration department told Wei Kang that a celebrity’s family member had come to seek help, and Wei Kang arranged to meet him.

Wei Kang researched Cao Yang’s efforts to make copper histidinate for his son with Menkes Syndrome and expected him to request a commercial medicine. Cao Yang instead asked Three Purities to develop gene therapy to cure the disease, leaving Wei Kang stunned.

• Wei Kang reviewed reports explaining Cao Yang’s homemade medicine and the lack of effective treatment for Menkes Syndrome.
• Wei Kang decided Three Purities would develop copper histidinate and welcomed Cao Yang to a meeting.
• Cao Yang thanked Wei Kang and explained that families of other Menkes patients also needed help obtaining treatment.
• Wei Kang offered to produce copper histidinate and said it could reach the market through a rare-disease fast track.
• Cao Yang clarified that he wanted Three Purities to develop a gene drug capable of curing Menkes disease, and Wei Kang was stunned.

Cao Yang presented his proposed Menkes disease gene therapy plans to Wei Kang and Tang Que, seeking expert guidance and help for affected families. Three Purities agreed to develop a gene therapy drug and begin researching the country’s 61 known patients.

• Cao Yang explained his AAV9 gene replacement and CRISPR-CAS9 editing plans, along with his willingness to fund research and help other families.
• Wei Kang called Tang Que, who reviewed Cao Yang’s materials and judged his research approach promising.
• Wei Kang promised that Three Purities would develop a Menkes disease gene therapy and asked Cao Yang to organize patient records and genetic testing.
• Cao Yang thanked Wei Kang, bowed, and left to share the news with the other families.
• Wei Kang and Tang Que discussed Tang Que’s motivation for researching rare diseases: he especially wanted to help sick children.

After years of struggling to treat his son Xiao Wei’s Menkes Syndrome, Cao Yang left Sanqing Headquarters with Three Purities’ support to research gene therapy. He shared the news with the Patient Support Group and invited other families to bring their children for treatment.

• Cao Yang recalled Xiao Wei’s diagnosis, the family’s fruitless search for treatment, and how he developed copper histidinate himself to slow the disease.
• Cao Yang tested the medicine on a rabbit and himself before giving it to Xiao Wei, whose condition improved and whose hospital results stabilized.
• Cao Yang studied rare diseases and gene therapy, while refusing to sell his homemade medicine to other families because he lacked a qualified channel and legal approval.
• After a sick baby in the Patient Support Group died, Cao Yang sought public attention and expert help to develop treatments through the proper pharmaceutical process.
• Three Purities agreed to support Cao Yang, and he posted the news in the Patient Support Group, inviting families to bring their children for early treatment.

Wei Kang developed a plan to use an internet platform to connect Rare Disease patients with Three Purities’ Gene Therapy research, then used Anmei to create the Longtu APP and launch it through a new subsidiary. The platform awaited feedback from patients.

• Wei Kang realized that an online patient network could gather Rare Disease patients, build genetic databases, and support personalized medicine and Gene Drug development.
• Wei Kang planned an APP for patient records, genetic testing data, disease forums, clinical trial applications, and resources for making medicine.
• Wei Kang named the APP Longtu, and Anmei quickly created it with patient-record functions and SMA and Menkes disease forums.
• Wei Kang had Anmei add a web version and link it to the APP’s forums.
• Several days later, the Longtu subsidiary was established, and the APP was uploaded to the Android and Apple app stores.

Chen Jianfeng and other families praised Sanqing’s new Longtu APP for organizing medical records and providing patient resources, while the app spread rapidly among SMA and Menkes disease groups. As user numbers surged, Xiang Gaofei and Wang Dong managed the new company and decided to focus on serving early users before expanding promotion.

• Chen Jianfeng installed Longtu APP, uploaded Nini and Xiao Jian’s medical records, and shared useful SMA information with his Patient Support Group.
• Families in the SMA and Menkes disease groups installed the app and praised its medical records, forum resources, and other features.
• Cao Yang watched a tutorial on making copper histidine and discovered that Sanqing was preparing a shared laboratory in Kun City Industrial Park.
• Longtu APP received five-star reviews from Menkes families and spread to more than twenty thousand SMA patients within a few days.
• Xiang Gaofei and Wang Dong watched the app’s user numbers rise, and Xiang chose to improve and test its services before buying traffic.

Cao Yang and Tang Que chose ZFN to develop a gene therapy for Menkes syndrome while Wei Kang watched company employees accept his Nobel Prize. The Gene Drug was completed, and Tang Que called Cao Yang to the laboratory the next morning.

• Cao Yang and Tang Que agreed to use ZFN to remove the extra A base in the ATP7A gene, avoiding CRISPR-Cas9 patent complications.
• Three Purities brought seven or eight Menkes patients to Kun City for gene testing and target preparation.
• Wei Kang told netizens he would skip the Nobel Prize ceremony, and Gu Xian and Sheng Changya accepted the award on his behalf.
• Wei Kang watched Gu Xian deliver an acceptance speech during the livestream and felt gratified.
• Tang Que's team finished the Gene Drug after working through the night, and Tang Que messaged Cao Yang to come in the morning.
• Tang Que fell asleep exhausted and resolved to develop a simpler Gene Editing tool himself.

Cao Yang’s son Xiao Wei received Sanqing’s gene-editing drug for Menkes disease, and his tests showed normal copper and ceruloplasmin levels. Sanqing opened the clinical trial to other patients and announced the drug, while families and overseas patients welcomed it as a lifeline.

• Cao Yang brought Xiao Wei to the hospital for his first gene-drug injection and watched for adverse reactions.
• After three days, the doctor reported that Xiao Wei’s examination results were normal and his serum copper and ceruloplasmin had returned to normal levels.
• Cao Yang shared the news with the patient support group, whose families celebrated and submitted applications when Sanqing opened the clinical trial to sixty patients.
• Sanqing announced the birth of China’s first gene-editing drug, prompting extensive media coverage and excited reactions from Chinese netizens.
• Menkes patients overseas welcomed the news with hope, viewing the drug as a final lifeline.

Xingesi learned that Sanqing had developed a gene drug for Menkes disease, and the Menkes Foundation funded overseas clinical trials that saved his daughter and dozens of other patients. A documentary and the drug trials brought Longtu APP to widespread attention, and Three Purities began promoting it to rare-disease patients across the country.

• Xingesi discovered news of Sanqing’s Menkes gene drug and told his wife that their daughter might be saved.
• Xingesi contacted Sanqing through the Menkes Foundation and offered to fund overseas Phase III clinical trials.
• Wei Kang accepted the funding, and Sanqing began overseas trials that treated Xingesi’s daughter and dozens of other patients.
• Xingesi and other trial families downloaded Longtu APP, and Xingesi praised its promise as future medicine.
• Sanqing released a documentary about the gene drug, and the film’s popularity drove Longtu APP downloads sharply upward.
• Three Purities announced Longtu APP and promoted its plan to unite rare-disease patients and incorporate them into medical big data.