The Fate of a Science Student

"Old Qi, have a seat." Shen Qi poured Director Qi a glass of water.

"Here's the thing, your chemistry project C01B, which is the Benzodiazepine compound mentioned in the paper published in JACS, has a pharmaceutical company interested in purchasing your patent." Director Qi, as expected of the center's cash cow, added, "The pharmaceutical company probably wouldn't dare approach someone as important as you directly, so they came to me."

"No problem, we can transfer the C01B patent. Who is the buyer?" Shen Qi asked.

Director Qi stated, "The buyer is Green Mountain Pharmaceutical, a subsidiary of Pfizer Inc. in China; it's an American -Pfizer Inc.."

Shen Qi said "Oh," and then added, "A subsidiary of Pfizer, that's interesting."

Director Qi is well-versed in law and business operations, said, "I have a general understanding of the situation. Your C01B is said to be quite similar to Pfizer's smoking Chantix drug, Chantix- Pfizer's administrative protection in China has expired, meaning that the patent for this smoking cessation drug has expired. When I was studying in the United States, I specifically studied Pfizer's operating cases. In the past 20 years, Pfizer has invested a lot of human, material, and financial resources in acquisitions."

The current situation of chemical drugs in China is that once the patents of marketed patented drugs expire, a large number of generic drugs emerge. As a result, generic drugs occupy more than 90% of the Chinese chemical drug market.

There are advantages and disadvantages. Generic drugs, which are almost identical in efficacy to the original drugs, are cheaper and more affordable for ordinary people.

However, from the perspective of the long-term development of China's pharmaceutical industry, the disadvantages outweigh the advantages.

Most Chinese pharmaceutical companies rely solely on imitation, resulting in very weak core R&D capabilities and a near loss of innovation.

The pharmaceutical industry is a technology-driven industry. Pharmaceutical companies that lack technological innovation capabilities will ultimately be unable to grow and become strong, and may even struggle to survive.

With too many generic drugs of the same type, pharmaceutical companies started a price war.

Many small and medium-sized pharmaceutical companies in China specialize in producing generic drugs. In the face of fierce competition and even chaotic price wars, most of these companies have been losing money for years, eventually going bankrupt or being acquired by large pharmaceutical groups.

Another major market for generic drugs is India. There is an Indian pharmaceutical company called Aurobindo that specializes in producing generic versions of Pfizer's patented drugs. The quality of their generic drugs is quite high, so high that even the FDA has approved them.

This Indian pharmaceutical company has copied more than 100 of Pfizer's patented drugs, of which 39 generic drugs have obtained the right to operate in the US market.

The United States advocates global trade, fair competition, and opposes monopolies; at least the US government treats Indian companies fairly and justly.

The drug patent has expired, and others have the right to produce generic versions, so Pfizer can't sue them.

In the case studied by Director Qi, Pfizer changed its operating model. Since it could not crack down on counterfeit manufacturers, Pfizer acquired Aurobindo, an Indian pharmaceutical company that had dedicated its life to imitating them.

Meanwhile, Pfizer's wholly-owned subsidiary, Green Stone Pharmaceutical, is acquiring large quantities of generic drugs globally after their patents have expired.

The deep-pocketed pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's current operating model is to maintain its core competitiveness in developing new drugs independently, while simultaneously acquiring generic drug companies and generic drugs.

The business that Pfizer's subsidiary in China Green Mountain Pharmaceutical, is responsible for is similar to that of their subsidiary in the United States, Greenstone: acquisitions.

Shen Qi said, "So, in Pfizer's view, our C01B copied their Chantix?"

Director Qi explained, "Patent law concerning pharmaceuticals is very complex and cannot be explained in a few words. Simply put, the same drug can be patented differently depending on the preparation method; this falls under the category of patents related to technology and processes."

During this time, Shen Qi also learned about the rules of the game in the pharmaceutical industry. He has a senior figure in his family, his doctor Mom.

Beginning in the mid-20th century, chemical drug development made rapid progress thanks to advancements in chemical science. New compounds were quickly identified in laboratories and applied to clinical research.

After decades of development, chemical drug research and development has become increasingly complex and lengthy, involving not only chemistry but also biology, medicine, information science (Computer Science), Material Science, and other disciplines.

Currently, it takes an average of 12 years for a new drug to go from initial laboratory research to market launch.

According to the World Health Organization, only 5 out of 5,000 compounds that undergo preclinical trials will advance to subsequent clinical trials.

Only one of these compounds will receive final approval and be marketed.

A complete new compound development cycle takes more than 10 years and costs an average of several billion US dollars. It is very normal for international pharmaceutical giants or large CROs to have more than 100 professionals in their research and testing teams for a single compound, and the processes involved are extremely cumbersome and complex.

Shen Qi can currently only synthesize samples in the laboratory and conduct animal experiments. His center is not yet equipped to complete the entire process of drug development, testing, and improvement. "I've decided to sell the patent for C01B."

Director Qi cautioned, "The Americans won't offer too high a price."

Shen Qi nodded and said, "I understand. My C01B hasn't undergone any experiments, not even on animals. Since Green Mountain Pharmaceutical dares to buy it, then I dare to sell it to them."

For compounds undergoing preclinical trials, the chance of advancing to Phase I clinical trials—which tests whether the compound has toxicity or other dangerous side effects on normal healthy individuals—is only one in a thousand.

There are still Phase II to IV clinical trials after Phase I, but the uncertainty is too high.

The C01B that Shen Qi and Old Yan synthesized by accident has never even been tested in animal experiments, let alone in clinical trials.

Whether C01B has any real value will only be determined many years from now.

At this stage, anyone would dare to buy the laboratory compound C01B, which requires extremely strong predictive ability and also involves an element of luck.

Drug development is a dramatic industry.

In 1968, the drug development team at Regan Company in the United States successfully synthesized a new compound, Sevoflurane, in an experiment. They observed that the decomposition products of Sevoflurane had certain nephrotoxicity in a high-temperature test at 210 degrees Celsius.

As a result, the American researchers concluded that Sevoflurane had no future and sold its patent to Maruishi Pharmaceutical of Japan at a very low price.

Maruishi Pharmaceutical was secretly delighted; they considered it a treasure.

After optimization and improvement, Maruishi Pharmaceutical launched an improved version of Sevoflurane in 1993, which was first marketed in Japan under the brand name Ultane.

In nearly 2 million clinical observations, Sevoflurane demonstrated remarkable efficacy and safety, and it was subsequently launched and marketed in dozens of countries, including China, the United States, and Korea.

Sevoflurane, marketed Catelley Chinese, is an inhaled general anesthetic used in many hospitals in China for surgical procedures.

Compounds deemed unpromising by American researchers become treasures in the hands of Japanese pharmacologists—this is the drama of the drug development industry.

Of course, the process of turning waste into treasure is quite lengthy. It took Maruishi Pharmaceutical a full 25 years to make Sevoflurane a recognized excellent anesthetic in the medical field.

Let alone 25 years, Shen Qi didn't even want to wait 5 years. His purpose in entering the chemical industry was not to develop smoking cessation drugs; C01B was just an unexpected gain. "Then I'll leave it to Director Qi. My idea is that C01B can be sold. As for the patent transfer price, Director Qi can negotiate with the other party according to industry practice."

As the old saying goes, Mathematical Physics are the prairie fire that ignites the flames and the guiding lights that lead the way, while chemistry and biology are the crematorium and the pit that buries science students.

Shen Qi lit the fire and turned on the lamp.

Shen Qi is now hooked; this is the fate of science students.

Mastering biochemistry is a very complex undertaking, but Shen Qi is most comfortable with mathematics, physics, and politics.

Because of Director Qi's unexpected visit, Shen Qi only managed to write one extra chapter on Condensed Matter Physics before leaving work at 5 p. m.

"I'm working overtime today, I'll be home before 10 pm." Shen Qi texted Ou Ye, wanting to finish the other two physics side stories in one go.

There are four bonus chapters in total for mathematics and physics. If all of them are published, Shen Qi predicts that he can accumulate enough academic points to advance 15 levels in mathematics.

Ou Ye replied to the message: "Go home and eat first, then you can work overtime."

Academician Shen's villa is very close to Yenching University, only a ten-minute walk away.

The wife is the most important person in the Sun Yat-sen University, and if his wife orders him to come home for dinner, then Shen Qi must come home for dinner.

Shen Qi went home for dinner, played with the child afterward, and thought, "Why would I work overtime? I don't want to."

The next day, Shen Qi finished writing all the side stories and sent them to the relevant mathematics and physics journals, then reviewed the documents that needed his confirmation.

The leader of a research institution or research team is called the boss because bosses are very busy and have a lot of paperwork to deal with.

Especially for top-level bosses, a single signature from them could involve research funding in the tens or even hundreds of millions of yuan.

All researchers at the center with the rank of Associate Professor or above are eligible to apply for research projects independently.

After receiving training from the Party School Principal, Shen Qi became very cautious about applying for large amounts of research funding.

Projects under 1 million yuan didn't matter, Shen Qi approved them without hesitation.

Shen Qi must strictly oversee theoretical research projects exceeding 1 million yuan and applied projects exceeding 10 million yuan.

Associate Professor Xiao Junlong submitted a mathematics project application, requesting funding of RMB 986,327, with both exact amounts and a clear and detailed list.

"You're stuck with the valve, aren't you? Old Xiao, you've really figured me out." Shen Qi's hand, holding the pen, remained unsigned for a long time. These people under him were all incredibly shrewd.