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Chapter 1062: Ordinary Road (Second update, please subscribe)

As usual, Li Shun turned on the car radio as soon as he got in the car and listened to the music program broadcast by the radio station. A few minutes later, his car drove onto the highway, which was only a dozen minutes away from his workplace. After the music finished playing, the news came again.

Most of them were domestic and international news. After hearing the news that "the Navy's First Fleet is about to end its special military operation in Suez and will return to Southeast Asia soon", although Li Shun had not paid much attention to current affairs, he still nodded and said.

"It looks like the canal crisis is about to end."

Many things have signals. If the crisis was not about to be resolved, the fleet would never withdraw to Nanyang. Soon the news interruptions were replaced by music again. While listening to the music, Li Shun couldn't help humming a few times.

After just a few songs, the car drove into the parking lot of the Food and Drug Administration. There were more cars here than in the past, and more and more colleagues had bought their own cars. Maybe one day, the parking lot will be full of cars. Who would have thought that a few years ago, this parking lot was still empty?

"Morning, Master Zhao."

As usual, after greeting Zhao Deliang, Li Shun entered the office building.

After passing the lobby, go directly to the elevator.

The elevator stopped on the seventh floor. The light in the hallway illuminated the beige floor, and the white walls made the entire corridor look extremely clean. There was also a smell of laboratory reagents and cigarettes. Twenty frosted glass doors were lined up along the corridor. This was the laboratory of the Food and Drug Administration, and Li Shun's office was here.

Although it was not yet eight o'clock, some doors were half open and the sound of typewriters or telephones ringing could be heard from inside. It was very busy here every day, with large amounts of food and medicine being sent here for testing.

Li Shun's job was to be the person in charge of this laboratory. He pushed open a door and turned on the light. His office looked dark and even had no windows. However, it was very rare to have an independent office. One wall was made into a bookshelf. There were leather-bound books, drug manuals, a large atlas, a Chang'an Street Guide, a telephone book,

There are a lot of labeled file boxes, most of which are reports on drug testing experiments. Li Shun's job here is very simple - to provide a "birth permit" for every drug entering the market, to ensure that every Nanyang citizen can use safe drugs.

His job is to review the materials provided by pharmaceutical companies and ultimately decide whether their drugs can enter the market. This is also his job as a reviewer of new drug applications at the Center for Pharmacology.

The job seems simple, but in fact his work is related to the life safety of tens of millions of Nanyang people.

In the silent office, Li Shunzheng, a new drug application reviewer at the Pharmacology Center, is buried in the desk lamp. His eyes are focused and sharp, like a falcon staring at its prey.

In his hands was a thick stack of pharmaceutical company information, each page of which carried the hope of saving lives in the future, but also contained unpredictable dangers.

When faced with the application reports from pharmaceutical companies, Li Shunjiao needs to carefully read every report and data, and then decide whether they can be put on the market.

Although the drug approval process in Southeast Asia is much better than in many other countries, there are still no formal rules governing the data submitted to support new drug applications. At least to a certain extent, the process is just a formality - if the Food and Drug Administration does not raise any objections to a drug's marketing application within a certain period of time, the drug will be automatically approved.

At this time, this is almost the case all over the world.

The drug that Li Shunzheng was reviewing was a report on the new drug "Thalidomide" provided by the German company Merel. As long as it passed his review, this newly invented new drug for suppressing morning sickness in pregnant women could enter the Nanyang market.

However, as he read deeper, Li Shun's brows gradually furrowed. There were many hidden dangers in the application materials for this new drug.

“There has been no prospective trial of this drug?”

As a pharmacologist, Li Shun knew that this meant that its potential risks and side effects had not yet been fully revealed. What shocked him even more was that the drug had not been tested on pregnant animals, which was undoubtedly a huge loophole for a drug that was intended for pregnant women and whose function included suppressing morning sickness.

What is most disturbing is that he did not mention in his report that no lethal dose of this drug was found.

"Could it be that this is because there is no lethal dose of this drug?"

Li Shun's tone was full of doubt, but he knew very well that there was no perfect medicine in the world without risks, and any medicine had certain side effects and risks to a greater or lesser extent.

Although this experiment only involves injecting drugs into mice and observing whether the mice can survive, if they survive, the drug is "harmless."

But there is no result even from such a simple experiment. It is too magical!
"The safety profile of this drug is so extraordinary!"

While sighing, Li Shun felt an indescribable uneasiness.

Li Shun had already made up his mind about this initial application.

Immediately, Li Shun resolutely rejected Merel's application and explicitly asked the company to provide more data on toxicity, efficacy and purity of the preparation in his reply.

Soon, Li Shun arrived at the director's office. Cheng Enci, the director of the Pharmacology Center, frowned as he looked at his reply.

"The problem is that the data is too positive and seems to be too focused on superficial perfection, while ignoring the potential risks that the drug may bring."

"potential risks?"

Cheng Enci frowned slightly and said.

"What's the risk?"

Li Shun said truthfully.

"intuition."

His answer stunned Cheng Enci.

"Just intuition?"

"Correct!"

Li Shun nodded.

"All the drugs I reviewed in the past had their toxicology clearly written out, but this drug did not. I believe there is no such perfect drug in the world. All drugs are toxic to some extent. This is basic common sense! Therefore, I rejected Merrell's request to market thalidomide. If they want to pass the review, they must provide more comprehensive and true data so that I can make a more accurate and fair review decision."

Looking at the director, Li Shun asked.

"Director Cheng, is there anything else?"

"Well! Safety is of the utmost importance. Since you have made your decision, just reject it!"

Nodding slightly, Cheng Enci said.

In fact, he was just curious. Even if he was the director, he had no right to ask Li Shun to pass the drug review and issue a marketing license. He didn't even have the power to replace the review officer, because the chief responsibility system was implemented here, and the review officer decided whether a drug was qualified for marketing. He could decide whether a drug could be marketed based on his own judgment. As for him as the director, he just coordinated various tasks.

Li Shun quickly left the director's office and wrote a reply rejecting the application in the office.

Although Merel is an important partner of Jianmin Pharmaceutical, Li Shun knows better that as a new drug application reviewer, his duty is to protect the health and safety of the public. He cannot let any drug with hidden dangers pass the review easily.

On this day, when Li Shun rejected Merrell's application for the marketing of its new drug "Thalidomide", the drug began to be reviewed in Germany, the Netherlands, France, Australia and other countries. It passed the review without exception. After all, the drug seemed harmless, and Nanyang's rejection had no impact on Merrell. It was just one of the countries.

In the silence of the manager's office of Jianmin Pharmaceutical Company, Zhu Huayun's face darkened slightly as he heard a piece of news. He learned that the drug project was rejected, and his brows knitted unconsciously.

"Ask Merel to provide further explanation." He ordered in a deep voice.

"Okay, I'll have someone send a telegram to Germany right away."

"Tell them to prepare more complete information and not make such low-level mistakes all the time."

After the secretary left the office, Zhu Huayun put the matter aside for the time being. After all, he had something more important on his mind - the patent period of streptomycin had quietly passed for ten years.

Ten years is halfway through the patent period for a drug. Jianmin Pharmaceuticals is known as the "world's largest gold mine" because of its patent monopoly on streptomycin. Although the price of streptomycin has been lowered several times in recent years and has even been licensed to many European and American companies for production, its "gold content" is no longer as high as it used to be, but it is still an important pillar of the company's profits.

"There are less than ten years left in the patent period..." Zhu Huayun muttered to himself, revealing an indescribable worry between his brows. He knew that the glory of streptomycin was coming to an end, and where would the company go in the future?

"New drugs..." He once again cast his eyes on the piles of research and development materials about new drugs. Every year, the company invests huge amounts of money in the research and development of new drugs, and has achieved some good results. However, none of these new drugs can have a specific therapeutic effect on certain diseases like streptomycin. They may bring huge profits, but they cannot become the company's new "gold mine".

"It's difficult..."

Zhu Huayun sighed softly. The information in front of him seemed to have become an insurmountable mountain, which made him feel unprecedented pressure and challenge. He knew that if Jianmin Pharmaceutical wanted to maintain its leading position in the future, it must find new breakthroughs and develop more effective and innovative drugs.

However, this is easier said than done?
But no, with such huge profits from streptomycin, how can the company support its future profits?
(End of this chapter)