Chapter 303 - 217: Pfizer Group’s Counterattack

Chapter 303: Chapter 217: Pfizer Group’s Counterattack

"As for the second project, progress will be relatively slower, but its prospects and value are much greater."

"This research project is the life’s work of Lou Musaang, the chief scientist at the Jin Pharmaceutical Group R&D center."

Xu Kunlin stiffened at the mention of Lou Musaang’s name. "It’s her!"

Xie Bin looked at Xu Kunlin. "You know her?"

Xu Kunlin gave a wry smile. "Of course. We were classmates in the Department of Pharmacy at Xingke University."

"Lou Musaang studied in the Department of Pharmacy at Xingke University’s Medical College, specializing in pharmacognosy. Even back in university, she had a keen interest in phytochemistry, herbology, and plant taxonomy..."

Xu Kunlin’s voice was filled with admiration as he spoke of Lou Musaang.

"What’s more, Lou Musaang is the heir to the Lou Clan of Xiaoshan in Jin Province, a National Medical Family... The founder was originally an officer under a warlord at the end of the Tang Dynasty. He later renounced his post to pursue literature and medicine, settling in Tower, Xiaoshan. By the Hongwu reign of the Ming Dynasty, Lou Ying, the fifth-generation head, was so renowned for his medical skills that he was summoned to Jinling, which is now Nanjing, to treat Emperor Zhu Yuanzhang. Because he miraculously cured several complex and difficult illnesses, Zhu Yuanzhang wanted him to stay on as an Imperial Physician, but Lou Ying declined on the grounds of old age and returned home..."

"After graduating, Lou Musaang was assigned to the Traditional Chinese Medicine Research Institute of the National Medicine Academy... I never imagined she would end up as the chief scientist for the Jin Pharmaceutical Group R&D center... No wonder, no wonder!"

Zhao Yan picked up where President Xu left off, continuing the report.

"The project’s research codename is ’Banzhe,’ an anti-tumor drug. It’s a new medication for treating malignant tumors like primary liver cancer, lung cancer, and colorectal cancer. The project is highly confidential, and there’s very little information available at this time."

"Its exact stage of development is also unknown... However, Jin Pharmaceutical Group has been investing in it for ten years, pouring in over ten billion in capital. The project has become too big to fail—the kind where success is the only option."

"There’s also the public-facing project, the investment in Wu Ting’s team for their work on hepatitis B and primary liver cancer. But that’s just in the conceptual phase, a world away from clinical trials and a market launch. It’s barely worth mentioning."

As they listened to Zhao Yan’s analysis, both Xie Bin and Xu Kunlin fell into deep thought.

After a long moment, Xie Bin had a plan.

"This is huge news for us. It looks like we need to start preparing."

"If Jin Pharmaceutical Group brings these new drugs to market first, it will have a major impact on our own new drug strategy in the oncology sector."

Xie Bin paused, a brilliant idea occurring to him.

"Since Jin Pharmaceutical Group is going all-in on these two innovator drugs, we’ll just have to kill both projects. We’ll use a few back-channel methods, find some short-selling firms to target them, get their credit rating suspended..."

Xie Bin didn’t just have an endless bag of tricks in the pharmaceutical industry; in the world of business, he was a cunning old fox.

’Short them, cripple Jin Pharmaceutical Group, and then have Pfizer acquire this prime asset and snatch up these two so-called innovator drug projects!’

Xie Bin and Xu Kunlin quickly formulated a plan.

"We’ll use the old ’reeling them in by letting out the line’ strategy. First, we’ll leak some seemingly positive news about Jin Pharmaceutical Group, hyping up this Yangzheng Xiujie Pill to kill them with praise. At the same time, we’ll get Jin Yihong to misread the situation and make the wrong strategic moves, leading her to pour massive cash flow into the Banzhe project..."

"Then, right at their launch event for the new Yangzheng Xiujie Pill, we’ll simultaneously launch our competing drug, Sorafenib, and deliver a stunning blow! After that, we short them, crash their stock price, and snap their cash flow..."

Zhao Yan and Xu Kunlin were both stunned by the viciousness of Xie Bin’s plan.

But business had always been this way. The winner takes all, and the loser isn’t even left with scraps.

And Xie Bin’s trump card was the Pfizer Jin Country Research Center in Xianglin City. The brand-new hepatitis B drug they were developing was an innovator drug and a direct competitor to both the Yangzheng Xiujie Pill and the Banzhe Project.

Sorafenib was a new drug for treating advanced-stage liver cancer!

Its goal was to become the leading first-line treatment for advanced liver cancer in Jin Country!

Xu Kunlin was mostly on board with Xie Bin’s plan, but he had one small reservation.

"Our new drug’s efficacy is significant, and it’s already in Phase III clinical trials, but we’re still some ways from the finish line."

"Without sufficient clinical trial samples, rigorous statistical data analysis, and complete validation of the drug’s efficacy, tolerability, and safety, we can’t confirm its therapeutic effects."

"We also won’t get our new drug application approved if we can’t get certified by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) and an IRB (Institutional Review Board)."

"If we can’t guarantee the timing and the results, then the plan to take down Jin Pharmaceutical Group is missing a crucial piece."

After Xu Kunlin finished, Xie Bin stared at him, his eyes filled with the viciousness of a viper.

"We don’t need a full-scale market launch. We just need to announce that we have our FDA and IRB certifications at the exact same time Jin Pharmaceutical Group launches their new drug."

"If the data from the Phase III clinical trials isn’t sufficient, we’ll just fake some."

"I have connections inside the FDA and on the IRBs. You just give me a perfect set of statistical results, and I can get it certified."

"Our goal is to crush Jin Pharmaceutical Group and seize the Yangzheng Xiujie Pill and Banzhe... Once we’ve won this business war, we can just announce a recall of our half-baked Sorafenib and pull it from the market."

Xie Bin stood up and patted Xu Kunlin on the shoulder.

Xu Kunlin flinched and looked at Xie Bin in alarm.

"President Xie, you can’t be serious. This is a crime. If this fraud is discovered, we’re done for."

"Besides, once a new drug is on the market, it will be used by all sorts of patients. If there are toxic side effects... the consequences would be unthinkable..."

Xu Kunlin was deeply worried.

"That’s why we have to be fast... As long as we take down and swallow up Jin Pharmaceutical Group... we stand to gain a piece of a pie worth at least tens of billions from this acquisition..."