Chapter 54: A Next-Generation General Hospital (1)
“You’ll give me citizenship?” Young-Joon asked.
“Yes. Do you remember when you said you would cure all neurological disorders in your interview?”
“Of course.”
“Honestly, not a lot of scientists believed you then. Your iPSC technology was astonishing, but curing neurological disorders is something entirely different. The public may have cheered, but the majority of scientists just thought of it as something you blurted out in youthful passion.”
“I would think so.”
“But now that you released clinical trial data that shows your success in treating Alzheimer’s, a lot more people will take your interview more seriously,” James said. “To make your dream come true as soon as possible, you will have to collaborate with them. And the most effective way to do that is for you to move your research base to the U.S.”
“...”
“You probably already know this as you are an expert in this field, but the United States is an international hub of biology and medicine, which is acknowledged by the world. We have the most advanced technology, facilities, and human resources that no other country can match up to.”
James smiled.
“One evidence of that is how your country pronounces genome, right? It used to be genom, but everyone says genome now.”
Genome, or the entire set of DNA instructions in a cell, was first introduced as genom, which was the German way to say it.[1] It was pronounced like that up until the 2000’s, but all the scientists in Korea were influenced by the overwhelming research and results produced from the Anglo-American region. Now, everyone in Korea pronounced it the American way.
“You know a lot about Korea,” Young-Joon said.
“My son-in-law is Korean. That’s why I am more fond of you.”
James had done a lot of research on Young-Joon: what kind of person he was, and what kind of things he considered before choosing and acting.
“Doctor Ryu, it feels like God sent you here to advance medicine and science. It seems like that’s the only thing you want.”
“...”
“I heard that you do not compromise with power, nor do you seek money. The only thing you want is the advancement of science, the conquering of diseases, that’s it. Is that right?” James asked. “Then is there any reason for you to not come to America? Put your patriotism aside for a little bit and think globally for the future of humanity. The U.S. has the most resources in biology, and I think we have a responsibility to support you.”
“Thank you for saying that. There are no borders in science. I will do anything to accelerate my research as long as it does not break research ethics.”
Alice and Kim Chul-Kwon looked at Young-Joon in surprise as he said that.
“Director, how can the federal government support me?” Young-Joon asked.
“First of all, transfer A-Bio to America. The federal government will lead and help the moving process. I heard that a significant number of key individuals at your company are foreigners who joined your company after seeing the job listing in Science. I don’t think they will leave because you’re moving the company here. And it will be less bothersome to do it now as your company is still new.”
“What about A-Gen? I am still the director.”
“It’s common for large multinational companies to have a foreign director or CEO. Even if you obtain American citizenship, it won’t be a problem for you to work at A-Gen. It’s just moving the location of A-Bio to America,” James replied.
He added, “And if A-Bio becomes a U.S. corporation, the federal government will set up a new office building for A-Bio in Silicon Valley. And we will provide you with three billion dollars of financial and material aid every year. How does that sound?”
‘Three billion dollars.’
It was definitely an extraordinary offer.
“But I think the Korean government would regulate it if we do something like that.”
“Of course. But if you want to, Doctor Ryu, we will be able to make a way,” James replied. “And there is one more benefit we can provide you with.”
“What is it?”
“The federal government of America will protect you from the cartels of vested pharmaceutical companies.”
“Pharmaceutical company cartels?”
“Doctor Ryu, there was an attempt to use stem cells for nerve cell treatment before. It was a pretty promising venture company called Neural Clinics. Do you know about their downfall?”
“What happened?”
“A few established pharmaceutical companies, including Schumatix and Roche, wrote press releases. It had this kind of information on it.”
James pulled out an article with the press release.
[Cancer stem cells are cancer cells that have stem cell-like characteristics. They originate from stem cells and produce various types of cancer cells.
Usually, cancer cells only produce a limited type of cells, like lung cancer creating lung cancer cells and liver cancer creating liver cancer cells, but cancer stem cells can produce all types of cancer cells and spread them throughout the body.
The safety of stem cell therapy being developed by Neural Clinics has not yet been proven, and the possibility that it can mutate into cancer stem cells still exists.
According to the research of Professor Pietro of Harvard Medicine and twelve others, tumors were found in twelve out of thirty mice that were injected with stem cells, and...]
“Well, they’re not wrong,” Young-Joon said.
“Instigation in science is usually only done with facts.”
“You’re telling me to not become like Tesla?”
“Exactly.”
In the twentieth century, Edison invented direct current electricity, and Tesla invented alternating current electricity. Alternating current electricity was more effective and convenient, and it was completely safe. But Edison knew that, too.
Feeling his livelihood threatened, Edison invented the electric chair using alternating current electricity and used it as an execution tool. It was a way to smear Tesla’s image; he had left an impression to the public that alternative current electricity was dangerous. As a result, Westinghouse, the company that invested in Tesla, almost went bankrupt.
“The truth will come out one day, but it will take a long time. The public isn’t as smart as you, Doctor Ryu. Patients all around the world are still loyal to large pharmaceutical companies. If the cartels start instigating lies and get in your way, you will face many difficulties,” James said.
“So are you saying that you will stop them from instigating lies and making threats if I move A-Bio to America?”
“No, this is still applicable even if you don’t move A-Bio to America.”
Young-Joon tilted his head in puzzlement.
“Even if I don’t move?”
“That’s right. From now on, Doctor Ryu, I am not speaking as the director of the Office of Science and Technology at the White House, but as a citizen and a scientist,” James said. “I like the beliefs that you have more than your genius mind. I like the scientist side of you behind the genius side that I got to know while researching about you.”
“...”
“I’ve seen a lot of the things pharmaceutical cartels do while being in this position. In places like Africa and India, there is unimaginable violence and immoral acts happening. Those people really calculate people’s lives in terms of money.”
“That’s right...”
“Before I became a director, I was a professor at MIT and a scientist. Speaking as a scientist, I believe the pharmaceutical industry needs someone to show them the right attitude to have, not someone who will cultivate knowledge. Even if Prometheus brought us fire, what good would it be if the person using it was an arsonist?”
James took a deep breath.
“To be honest, that was one of the reasons why we wanted you more.”
“...”
“There’s only one thing that we want,” James said. “It is for you to grow your company quickly without being destroyed by the manipulation of large pharmaceutical companies and advance human medicine. I'm sorry to say this, but I don’t think that Korea will be able to do that properly.”
“Isn’t that quite a dangerous comment?”
“Why does it matter? It’s not like this conversation is being recorded anyways. And right now. I think your future and the advancement of science is more important than the relationship between the U.S. and Korea or our honor. I want this conversation to be nothing but honest.”
“I understand what you are saying.”
“Doctor Ryu, please think globally. You are not someone who should be limited to Korea. Objectively, the U.S. can support you better. Come to America.”
James made a move.
After a moment of silence, Young-Joon spoke, “As I said before, there are no borders in science. I also am not really bogged down by what country’s citizenship I hold.”
“Then are you coming to America?”
“Even if you are going to give A-Bio a lot of support, I cannot move there. The key individuals of A-Bio are Korean scientists who first created iPSCs and a glaucoma treatment. It’s easier for me to work with people who have good chemistry with me. I don’t know about the long-run, but if I move my company, I am certain that we will lose time right now.”
“...”
“But I understand the part you brought up, Director. I do not want to lose an advantage like that. How about this? I will make an affiliate of A-Bio in the U.S., and I would like it to be partnered with the National Cancer Institute.”
“The National Cancer Institute?”
“We are also considering starting cancer research. We are currently developing a treatment for pancreatic cancer.”
James looked at him in shock. He did not know this.
“Pancreatic cancer?” James asked.
“Yes. I cannot give you data about it, but I believe it will succeed. The U.S. is the leading country in cancer research and treatment in the world. And the National Cancer Institute has extensive data about patient genetics. They dominate this field,” Young-Joon said.”If you give us access to all the data, cutting-edge sequencing equipment, all types of chemical, doctors, and technicians, we will continue cancer research there in the future. Please provide all the support you mentioned before to the affiliate company.”
“...”
James thought about it for a moment.
“You have shown significant results in the stem cell field, but there hasn’t been anything you have been acknowledged for in anticancer drugs.”
“Then you can wait until we conduct the pancreatic cancer clinical trial. We can discuss this later on.”
* * *
As soon as Young-Joon got off his escort vehicle, he ran straight to the seminar room. Kim Chul-Kwon ran behind him without difficulty, but Alice quickly ran out of breath.
‘This brings back memories.’
Young-Joon did this when he was going to present about induced pluripotent stem cells at the year-end seminar at A-Gen. He was worried that he might be late like that time, but he made it just in time.
Click.
When Young-Joon opened the door and walked inside, it was five minutes before his turn. The thousands of people filling up the first and second floor of the large lecture room all stared at Young-Joon at once.
This room was rented specifically for his presentation. It was originally a cultural space used for concerts and plays, but it was transformed into a lecture room for this conference.
The capacity of this hall was about two thousand five hundred people; it was bigger than the seminar room A-Gen had, but it didn’t look like there was room to spare. It was because researchers who wanted to listen to this monumental presentation and passionate students came inside even though there were no more seats. They were sitting on the staircase, standing in the aisle, or leaning on the second-floor railing with a pen and notepad in their hands.
“Welcome, Doctor Ryu!” Professor Behnach said.
“Sorry I’m late,” Young-Joon replied.
“It’s alright. There’s still five minutes left.”
“I should get up there quickly.”
Young-Joon glanced at Alice. She seemed a little flustered because the lecture was bigger than she thought.
“S-Should I go up with you?” Alice asked.
“It’s alright for now. I will do the presentation and answer questions by myself.”
Young-Joon went up on the stage. It was wide, like a stage for a premier. He walked across the stage and approached the computer, step by step. He looked small from a seat faraway from the stage, but he still looked strong.
The presentation data he sent beforehand was already open on the computer. The host handed him a laser pointer that connected to the mouse on the computer.
In the tense silence, Young-Joon picked up the mic. He pressed the present button and lit up the large screen.
[The Treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease and Regeneration of the Brain Using Stem Cells]
As the title came up, there was a short round of applause from the audience.
Young-Joon stood in front of the large audience. Across from him, there were slight commotions and nervousness. There were fingers flipping through papers that were printed beforehand, the sound of pens scribbling, and the sound of keyboards clacking. Young-Joon could see desperate or hopeful tears, sighs, and prayers from a few places.
“Hello. My name is Ryu Young-Joon from A-Bio.”
Young-Joon spoke into the mic. Even the sound of breathing disappeared as the scientists focused on the presentation. Watching that, Alice felt a little thrilled. Everyone was extremely focused on this presentation: the success of phase one of the Alzheimer’s clinical trial using stem cells.
“I will begin the presentation about the research where we administered stem cells to eight Alzheimer’s patients and improved their symptoms.”
Young-Joon began the lecture. He had used a lot of energy meeting and talking to someone like the director of the Office of Science and Technology at the White House early in the morning, but he was not mentally tired at all.
The lecture, which was filled with extensive clinical data and thorough analysis of the mechanism, went on for an hour-and-a-half and captivated the audience slowly, but intensely.
“... And so, through the MRI, you can see that the cerebral cortex has expanded again, the ventricles have gotten smaller, and that we have recovered an average of ninety-seven percent of the brain’s size compared to the normal brain. The beta-amyloid imaging also confirmed that the amount accumulated had significantly decreased and was no longer found in the brains of the patients,” Young-Joon said. “We have seen the same treatment effect in all eight patients, and no tumors have occurred as of now. Thank you.”
The presentation came to an end.
“I guess we have about thirty minutes left. I will answer any questions if anyone has any.”
Clap clap clap!
With a round of applause and shouts, hands shot up from the audience from all over.
“Can this be applied to other brain disorders other than Alzheimer’s?” Rebecca, a professor at the Johns Hopkins Brain Science Institute, asked.
“We haven’t tested it, but I believe it will be. I think it will be effective for strokes and Parkinson’s as well.”
“How did you cross the blood brain barrier?” This time, Aiden, a biology professor at Brown, asked.
“We attached a RVG29 glycoprotein to it.”
Questions poured in from all over.
“How safe is 3K3A-APC?”
“Doctor Ryu, how many people are you considering to include in phase two of your clinical trial?”
“Do you have plans to do clinical trials on patients who have a different genetic background than Korean?”
“Is there a possibility of those stem cells going to different tissues?”
Young-Joon answered each question calmly.
Then, he got an appropriate question.
“What’s A-Bio’s next target for stem cell therapy?”
“We are going to regenerate the spine.”
“The spine!”
“And we will make bone marrow as well. Next, it will be the reconstruction of cartilage and organs. We are going to start clinical trials on them in less than a year.”
“...”
‘What?’
The professors’ jaws dropped in shock. The entire audience looked dumbfounded.
“A-Bio is capable of doing that. I believe that we have proved it today. There is something I would like to create while developing these technologies. Since there are a lot of reporters here, I will also consider this a press conference and announce it right now,” Young-Joon said. “We are planning to build a hospital tailored to individual patients using organoids, tissue that mimics the complexity of an organ, and regenerative treatment that is based on stem cells.”
“T-Take a picture...”
The audience had been told to refrain from taking pictures beforehand, but it didn’t matter anymore. Cameras began flashing from all over. Reporters’ pens and typing began writing faster. They didn’t miss one single word and wrote down everything Young-Joon was saying.
“This hospital will be the first new-generation hospital. We need a lot of money and people. Please help me.”
1. Genom doesn’t have a “j” sound like genome does, but a “g” sound. ?
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