Becoming Rich with Daily Scavenging APP-Chapter 674: The Painful Lessons of Human Pharmaceutical History

"Whatever amount your project lacks afterward, I'll cover it all."

After listening to Professor Lin's explanation, Chen Yiyang directly promised Professor Lin, "My only requirement is that once you achieve results, I want exclusivity. We can collaborate to establish a medical company specifically for this product, and we can distribute the shares accordingly."

Professor Lin's eyelids fluttered at Chen Yiyang's conditions.

The terms were just too good.

The offer was entirely contingent on the successful commercialization of the product.

After all, the commercial prospects of bone glue were indeed very promising.

But the difficulty of achieving it was ridiculously high.

Professor Lin felt that even his most trusted investors couldn't offer such terms.

Because if any issues occur with bone glue during clinical trials or commercialization, all of Chen Yiyang's initial investment would go to waste.

And in the field of medical research, such situations are quite common.

Even after passing clinical trials, some drugs may undergo extensive testing, continue through small-scale clinical trials, and even reach mass sales in the market.

Yet, unforeseen problems can arise, leading to large-scale recalls and even financial losses.

For example, in the drugs approved by North American Food and Drug Administration after rigorous double-blind tests.

About one-third of these drugs experience major safety incidents post-market, leading to costly recalls of these heavily funded drugs.

The most famous drug in pharmaceutical history that faced issues post-marketing would have to be the notorious "Thalidomide."

This drug was initially researched by a Swiss pharmaceutical company as an antibacterial medicine.

The Swiss company found the antibacterial effects negligible, so they transferred the patent to Germany's largest antibacterial drug development company, Grünenthal.

Prior to this, North America had profited immensely from the industrial production of penicillin.

Thus, the Germans wanted to establish their own antibiotic research industry.

So, despite the drug's mediocre results, Germany was willing to further develop it.

Germany conducted large-scale clinical trials on this drug.

Unexpectedly, it was found to have significant sedative effects on the central nervous system, alleviating nausea and insomnia in pregnant women.

Grünenthal conducted numerous tests and discovered the drug had no addictive properties and showed no toxicity in animal trials.

It seemed to be a perfect drug.

Grünenthal believed they hit the jackpot and invested substantial funds to market the drug.

Confident it would be highly profitable, Grünenthal quickly promoted its distribution.

Within just a year, 46 affluent countries worldwide started selling this drug.

Among the major countries at the time, only two did not sell the drug.

One was Huaxia, and the other was North America.

Huaxia did not sell the drug because it appeared in 1960 during a special period of strained relations, so they would not sell it to Huaxia.

In North America, a newly hired female employee at the Food and Drug Administration happened to oversee this application. She thought that although this drug had shown no effects on adult women.

It wasn't proven that it wouldn't affect fetuses through maternal transfer.

So she outright rejected it.

According to the North American Food and Drug Administration's regulations, an application can only be resubmitted sixty days after being rejected.

During Grünenthal's attempt to reapply, the North American Food and Drug Administration received a letter from a doctor in the United Kingdom.

Doctors in the UK discovered that women taking this drug developed peripheral neuritis, indicating the drug might harm women.

Thus, Grünenthal's reapplication was also rejected, delaying the drug's North American launch by a year.

During this year, doctors in Europe found many newborns developing a condition known as phocomelia.

Infants with this condition had undeveloped limbs at birth, appearing as if their hands and feet directly grew on their sides. Limbs disappeared, leaving them looking like small seals, likely dependent for life.

Doctors soon discovered that mothers of these infants who took Thalidomide during pregnancy had a common habit.

At that moment, the world realized what was happening.

The so-called perfect drug concentrated all its flaws on the infants.

By 1962, two years after Thalidomide went global.

Global statistics counted over 8,000 infants born with phocomelia due to this drug.

Countless unrecorded miscarriages resulted from the drug, numbers detailed calculations couldn't capture.

The Thalidomide incident earned the North American Food and Drug Administration a reputation as the world's strictest drug regulatory agency.

Even such an agency found that about one-third of approved drugs had issues post-market.

This led major pharmaceutical companies to be exceptionally cautious with new drug development investments, treating each one like a gamble with no guaranteed outcome.

Chen Yiyang's near-gambling style investment made Professor Lin feel a sense of connection and immense trust.

"Mr. Chen, rest assured." Professor Lin grasped Chen Yiyang's hand and said, "My team will successfully commercialize bone glue and launch it into the market."

"I believe in you." Chen Yiyang, seeing Professor Lin's enthusiasm, felt a bit bashful.

But given the atmosphere, Chen Yiyang had to react.

After securing the bone glue investment, Chen Yiyang returned to his office shortly afterward when the young accountant walked in.

"Want to do something exciting today?"

Chen Yiyang got up and closed his office door.

His office was spacious and soundproofed well.

Originally, he wasn't in the mood for this.

But the young accountant today just happened to wear a professional outfit with a short skirt, triggering his interest.

"Stop." The young accountant pressed her hand against Chen Yiyang's chest and said,

"I came to you because Zheng Lu called me, hoping to meet you.

He's already in Lin'an."

Zheng Lu, the founder and former owner of Kuxing Coffee.

Now, he's the competitor of Kuxing Coffee, the current owner of Redi Coffee.

Previously, Zheng Lu sought Chen Yiyang to invest in Redi Coffee.

Chen Yiyang was unable to meet him personally, so he had the young accountant hold some shares.

So it was understandable for Zheng Lu to want to meet Chen Yiyang and ask the young accountant for help.

"Why is he looking for me?" Chen Yiyang was a bit curious.

"I'm not sure. But he sent me many messages.

The main point was to ask me, as a shareholder of Redi Coffee, to help him out just this once."

"Alright." Chen Yiyang had no choice but to agree.

"Let him come to my office now. I just happen to have time today."