Chapter 81: A-Bio Cancer Laboratory (5)
Feng Zhang looked remarkably happy when Young-Joon said he would meet David.
“Wow, the CEO of the world’s best pharmaceutical company is meeting the CEO of the company that will be the greatest company in the world. It’s like a union between generations.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I’ll call him and set up a meeting.”
Feng Zhang pulled out his phone right away and called David. After chatting for a little bit, Feng Zhang brought up how he was with Young-Joon right now and how he wanted to meet him.
—Sure. When is he free?
“When are you free?”
Feng Zhang delivered David’s question to Young-Joon.
“I can’t do tomorrow because I have to meet Director James. After that, my schedule is… I should be free from Monday next week.
Feng Zhang told David exactly what Young-Joon said.
—Alright. We can have the meeting on Monday.
“Where would you like to have it?” Feng Zhang asked David.
—Conson & Colson has a drug research lab in Pennsylvania. It’s about three hours from Washington by car. It might be a bother, but I will show you around if you come to our lab. I would like to introduce you to our lab for each other’s development in the future.
Feng Zhang confirmed the location with Young-Joon.
“Alright. I’ll be there.”
* * *
Director James greeted Young-Joon with a bright face.
“Welcome, Doctor Ryu. Your Science paper on the pancreatic cancer cure was great. Is the clinical trial also going well?”
“Yes. The clinical trial is going swimmingly,” Young-Joon said with a smile. Alice was standing beside him as his translator. There were three more men with Young-Joon: one was Park Joo-Hyuk, and the other two were lawyers from A-Bio’s legal team. Young-Joon just left them to explore the city when he was meeting Feng Zhang, but he needed their help now because he was going to sign a contract.
“Now, shall we talk about building A-Bio’s cancer lab that we discussed before?” Young-Joon asked.
“You said you wanted to build a lab that is partnered with the National Cancer Institute (NCI)?” James asked.
“Yes. We did catch a powerful disease like pancreatic cancer, but we’ve just put out the big flame. There may be pancreatic cancers that evade our treatment method, and we need to do a lot of research on other types of cancers.”
“Because cancer is a drug with a lot of variables.”
Each type of cancer felt like a different organism. As such, an anticancer drug that was effective in one patient may not work at all on another. A drug that was previously effective might not be anymore when the cancer cells suddenly gain resistance, or it was sometimes the opposite. There were some surprising instances where the cancer cells, which were addicted to the anticancer drug, died when they stopped using it. And after some cancer cells spread to other tissues, they acquired new properties and turned into a completely new type of cancer. That was how versatile of an enemy cancer cells were.
The pancreatic cancer cure using the birnavirus was more effective and precise than any other method developed before, but a patient with a type of pancreatic cancer that couldn’t be cured by this may someday come out.
This was what Young-Joon had to plan for. He couldn’t be satisfied with making a few good anticancer drugs and saving a lot of patients.
‘I originally studied anticancer drugs before, so…’
And the background behind this was Ryu Sae-Yi, his youngest sister who was caught by a catastrophe with a terrible probability called pediatric liver cancer.
Young-Joon wanted no one to suffer from cancer again, and he wanted that world to come as soon as possible.
‘Overcoming all cancers…’
Curing Alzheimer’s or diabetes was child’s play compared to this grand goal. The whole world struggled because they couldn’t do something about pancreatic cancer, so things like end-stage cancer that had metastasized to the entire body was something for despair.
Among some scientists, there were people who believed that overcoming cancer was an unattainable goal. But Young-Joon was going to challenge that, and he wanted to build A-Bio’s cancer lab in the U.S. for that goal. He needed to use the vast amount of data, new technology, and equipment that the NCI had. It would be a catalyst that would accelerate Rosaline’s research and development. Since it could take too much time for Rosaline to destroy the enemy alone, he was going to give her a weapon.
“You are aiding us with three million dollars of support, right?” Young-Joon asked.
“That’s right. But you must establish it as an American corporation that follows U.S. law. You know that, right?”
“Yes, it doesn’t matter to me.”
“Then should we sign the contract? We’ve prepared it.”
James got the contract from the federal government’s lawyers and handed it to Young-Joon.
“Read through it thoroughly and let us know if you have any questions. You don’t have to sign it right now.”
“Thank you.”
Young-Joon handed over the contract to Park Joo-Hyuk. Park Joo-Hyuk sat at the table beside him with the document and began to read through it with the legal team’ lawyers, even focusing on one comma. Young-Joon was going to read it after they were done checking over it.
“Oh, did you meet CEO David from Conson & Colson?” James asked.
“I am going to go see him next week.”
“Doctor Ryu, did he talk about the Illemina equipment?”
“The project to install Illemina’s DNA analysis machines in every hospital?”
“Yes, that one.”
“I only heard about it through rumors.”
“Actually, I had a meeting with him the other day. He requested the federal government’s investment in the project and the easing of related laws.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes.”
“Did you?”
“First of all, the amount he requested was quite large. Illemina’s DNA analysis equipment is quite expensive, and it would be installing it in all major hospitals in America. But that’s not all. They have to teach doctors and nurses how to use that equipment, and if that’s not possible, they have to place technicians,” James said. “And it needs deregulation because it is dealing with patient DNA, and that is a type of personal information. David is trying to do it with me because it’s such a big project and David can’t do it alone.”
“So did you refuse?”
No. I told him I would give him an answer after consulting you.”
“With me?”
“He said that this project would ultimately be of help to you.”
“To me?”
“Yes. He talked about expanding the diagnostic market, conducting a clinical trial for the pancreatic cancer cure and establishing a structure to support the A-Bio Cancer Laboratory based on that.”
“Oh.”
David was definitely a skilled businessman. Young-Joon could see the picture he wanted. If Young-Joon didn’t have the insane technology of the diagnostic kit, there was a very high chance that the situation would go exactly as David planned.
David was trying to sell the diagnostic information he obtained from the DNA analysis equipment installed around the country to A-Bio’s cancer lab. That would be important data for future cancer research. And if they successfully completed this project, the United States could make tremendous strides in cancer research. If so, it was something that was worth trying for the U.S. federal administration since they didn’t have much time left in office; it could be a huge political achievement if it succeeded.
“Personally, I think it is a great idea. It’s a win-win for all of us. You get data on cancer patients, Conson & Colson gets rich, and we get a political achievement.”
James said that he would give David an answer after asking Young-Joon, but he was basically convincing him.
‘It’s a good move.’
In the end, Conson & Colson would be at the top of the biggest issue in the pharmaceutical industry: A-Bio’s entry into the United States. It was a strategy that allowed them to lay back doing nothing and just suck out profit using Illemina’s technology, the federal government’s support, and Young-Joon’s ingenuity. David really planned it well since without the diagnostic kit, neither James and Young-Joon would have a reason to reject the proposal, and they would have reached an agreement.
But that was it.
“Don’t do it,” Young-Joon said.
“Pardon?”
James’ eyes widened as if Young-Joon’s response was so unexpected.
“Why are you telling me not to do it? This benefits you as well, Doctor Ryu. Aren’t you going to develop more anticancer drugs at your cancer lab? You are receiving three million dollars worth of support from us annually, but if you don’t do anticancer research with that…”
“We will do research.”
“Then you need DNA diagnostic data from patients’ cancers.”
“That’s right. But we are not going to obtain it in the way Conson & Colson think.”
“Pardon?”
An extreme confusion took over James.
“I have a much more efficient diagnostic technology than that. It will be commercialized in a few weeks,” Young-Joon said. “Since I was going to show CEO David anyways, I will show it to you too, Director.”
Young-Joon took out his laptop from his bag.
“What are you going to show me?”
“It’s a video of our product’s prototype. We couldn’t bring the actual project for security reasons. Just be satisfied with this.”
Young-Joon opened a video file that was on the background of his laptop. And after the video hit the three minute mark…
“Oh god…”
James was so shocked that he almost screamed. “This is… No, this… This is possible?”
“It’s a project that combines A-Bio’s Cas9, A-Gen’s lab-on-a-chip technology, and finally, SG Electronics’ semiconductor technology.”
James clenched his fists slightly. He didn’t want to show his hands trembling as he was the director of the U.S. Office of Science and Technology.
“We are going to sell it in convenience stores and grocery stores. We will make diagnosing diseases an everyday medical service.”
“... How much is it?”
“All kinds of amazing technology went into it, but it won’t be very expensive because the sample itself isn’t really expensive, and we don’t need a lot of it,” Young-Joon said. “Excluding labor costs, it costs a little bit less than a dollar in raw material costs. If we machinerize it and produce it in factories, the supply price will probably be around ten to twenty dollars, even if we include the distribution costs.”
It was only ten thousand to twenty thousand won. James already knew that this wasn’t on the level of treating incurable diseases and things like that. He was confident that this was the greatest invention after smartphones.
James asked, “Are you going to make things more like this at the A-Bio Cancer Laboratory?”
“Unfortunately, this is an A-Gen product.”
“Or something similar…?”
“We have to focus on cancer research there.
As Young-Joon answered with a chuckle, James looked disappointed.
“Please tell us if there’s anything you need to build the cancer lab. I will do anything if it’s something within my reach.”
* * *
Young-Joon arrived at Conson & Colson’s drug research lab in Pennsylvania.
“Hello, Doctor Ryu.”
Greeting him, David sat Young-Joon down on the chair across from him. After a brief introduction…
“Should we talk about business now?” David said. “You may already know, but we are planning to install DNA analysis equipment in a thousand hospitals in the United States and do a pilot operation. We have already put in our order to Illemina, and they are producing around two hundred right now.”
“Doesn’t one of them cost around five hundred thousand dollars?”
“That’s right.”
“You really did it big, didn’t you?”
David smiled at what Young-Joon said.
‘Did it big?’
Wasn’t it obvious? This kind of dramatic decision was needed to overcome a company like A-Bio and dominate the market first. So far, David had beat competitors several times by reading the market with his keen insight and making bold decisions. It was the same this time as well. He persuaded Jonathan from Illemina, who was scared and cowering, and James and pushed for the project.
“Because I know that you or Director James will not reject,” David said confidently.
“A-Bio will need a lot of DNA data on cancer patients to do cancer research in the future. There is a lot at the NCI, but that won’t be enough,” David said. “Before the end of this year, we will install Illemina’s DNA analysis equipment in all major hospitals around the United States and use that to obtain large amounts of data on DNA mutation.”
Young-Joon was just quietly listening. David went on.
“We will supply that data to the A-Bio Cancer Laboratory. In exchange, give us shares in your lab.”
“Shares?”
“Yes. We will buy shares in your lab. Thirty percent,” David said with a confident face.
But Young-Joon’s answer was very unexpected.
“Mr. CEO, stop this project when you can. It’s going to be trouble if you continue.”
“Pardon?”
David frowned a little.
“We developed a diagnostic kit. Patients aren’t going to be treated in the way you think.”
“What are you talking about? A diagnostic kit?”
“It’s a kit that an ordinary person can use alone to diagnose about one hundred diseases in less than three minutes. This kit can be linked to a phone and be diagnosed in detail with an A-Bio app. It can also send data to doctors at registered hospitals for real-time data-based treatment.”
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