Chapter 301 - 301: The Art of Reaping

July 18th.

Xiangjiang.

As a key free port between East Asia and Southeast Asia, its economy had become quite active recently.

A large number of Huashang Clans from Siam, Malaysia, and Xing Island had fled here to resettle, bringing a great deal of hot money with them.

On the other hand, it was also because some of the Homo Sapiens Company's products often landed in Xiangjiang before heading north.

For instance, the recent, extremely popular Meisheng preventative drug had people flocking to it.

Li Qingye's 12 papers on how inflammation causes memory protein damage, leading to Alzheimer's disease, had already been republished in medical journals like The Lancet, attracting significant attention from researchers in related fields.

In fact, a large number of research teams in the international medical community had already been working in this area. Currently, the mainstream research directions for Alzheimer's were inflammation caused by gut flora and amyloid protein deposition.

However, the beta-amyloid protein within the amyloid protein family had been exposed last year for fraudulent research papers—and it was the foundational papers that were faked.

This immediately cast doubt across the medical community on the entire amyloid deposition hypothesis.

Compared to the collapsed house of cards that was beta-amyloid deposition, research into inflammation—spurred by the new papers and drug from Li Qingye and the Homo Sapiens Company's research team—was now receiving immense attention from major medical labs and pharmaceutical companies.

Inside a medical laboratory at Xiangjiang University.

A dozen or so Alzheimer's researchers from Xiangjiang and the north were testing the clinical effects of the Meisheng preventative drug.

"According to the autopsy and test data from the brains of inflamed mice, inflammatory factors do indeed affect the stability of the Jia-25-2, Jia-25-6, and Jia-27-2 proteins," a middle-aged researcher with a receding hairline said, holding a lab report.

Another middle-aged researcher, his eyes bloodshot, said in a very certain tone, "It seems the Homo Sapiens Company's research direction is correct."

"Don't blindly trust authority. Science is about reproducibility. I don't want to fall into another massive pit," said the researcher, who studied beta-amyloid deposition.

The researcher with the receding hairline put down his lab report. "Actually, it wouldn't be hard to verify. We could genetically modify the mice to suppress the genes related to memory protein synthesis."

"The problem is, the Homo Sapiens Company hasn't published the corresponding gene sequences for these proteins. We can't just test them one by one, can we?" another researcher in glasses said, spreading his hands helplessly.

The other researchers present were equally frustrated by this.

Because the Homo Sapiens Company's internal research system was incompatible with the international scientific community, even their public academic papers were often stripped of key details or had their core data deliberately obscured.

For example, in the 12 papers on inflammatory factors causing Alzheimer's, there was no mention of gene sequences, nor did they specify which particular proteins the so-called "Jia-series" proteins were.

There was no trace of any "Jia-series" proteins in the international medical and biological communities. Clearly, this was another term named internally by the Homo Sapiens Company.

Research teams in medicine and pharmacology were about to have a mental breakdown because of the Homo Sapiens Company. Sometimes they would get their hands on a "raw" version of a Homo Sapiens Company paper and find they couldn't even understand it.

The international academic community had written to the Homo Sapiens Company and Li Qingye multiple times, hoping they would use internationally accepted scientific terminology instead of making up their own maverick terms.

However, their words had no effect on the Homo Sapiens Company.

No, in fact, they doubled down.

The Homo Sapiens Company didn't just like creating its own scientific terms; it also liked to mix English, Chinese, and Thai.

If the Homo Sapiens Company's papers were of little value, the international academic community would just dismiss them as a joke. But, as it happened, their papers were tied to many cutting-edge technologies, especially in the field of biopharmaceuticals.

Take the current Alzheimer's papers, for example, or the previous papers on novel antibiotics and the Artificial Cornea.

Don't read them?

These were research papers on the cutting edge.

You say you won't read them?

Don't worry, the major pharmaceutical companies will make you read them.

Just like here in the Xiangjiang University medical lab, the research into the efficacy of the Meisheng wonder drug for Alzheimer's was being driven by the will of the investors behind them.

Currently, every major pharmaceutical company in the world with even a shred of ambition had immediately purchased the Meisheng preventative drug from the Homo Sapiens Company and begun animal trials.

The researcher with the receding hairline looked at the lead researcher of another team. "Dr. Zhang, how is your compositional analysis coming along?"

Dr. Zhang, his face etched with fatigue, gave a wry smile. "We've identified the components, but we have no way to replicate it."

The researcher with the receding hairline, who knew a thing or two about the Homo Sapiens Company's drugs, had already guessed. "Another new organic macromolecule?"

Dr. Zhang nodded. "Yes. It's a completely new protein structure, and its effect is miraculous. After intravenous injection, it circulates through the blood, penetrates the blood-brain barrier into the brain, and then breaks down into smaller protein subtypes."

He continued, "These proteins interact with the inflammatory factors. They simultaneously neutralize the factors while breaking down into various nutrients and a caffeine-like compound, which greatly alleviates the adverse reactions caused by the patient's cerebral inflammation."

"Can the protein subtypes be replicated?" the researcher in glasses asked.

Dr. Zhang shook his head. "Even if we replicated it, we couldn't get around the patent."

He was reminding the people in the team who had been planted there by the investors, hoping they would see the difficulty and back down.

After all, taking things from the Homo Sapiens Company was not easy. You could lose your life if you weren't careful.

Sure enough, at the mention of patents, even the man from the pharmaceutical company looked troubled. However, the enormous profits represented by the drug made him unwilling to give up.

The pharmaceutical representative pressed, "Then we can research a similar protein-based drug, right?"

Dr. Zhang spread his hands. "A protein with such precise effects and low side effects is an incredibly exquisite structure in itself. If it were a natural protein, we could isolate and refine it. But I estimate this protein was most likely artificially synthesized by the Homo Sapiens Company."

"This means it will be very difficult for us to find a similar natural compound. We would have to fumble around in the dark, which would require a massive R&D investment. In the end, we might be able to develop a similar drug."

Of course, there were some things Dr. Zhang left unsaid.

For example, the research costs could run into the tens of billions of US Dollars and take at least five to ten years. Even if they did develop it, the side effects of the first-generation drug would likely be too severe for it to be marketed.

The pharmaceutical representative was no fool. If they couldn't launch a drug with comparable effects in a short amount of time, they couldn't even begin to compete with the Homo Sapiens Company.

Even if they used trade barriers to block the Homo Sapiens Company's new drug, things like smuggling, personal shoppers, and medical tourism were impossible to control.

What's more, the current factory price for the Meisheng preventative drug was 5,000 Jin per box. It also required a special freezer to ensure its three-year shelf life; at room temperature, it was only effective for about 30 days.

This product was fundamentally aimed at the middle and upper classes.

And according to the Homo Sapiens Company, it was best to start taking the Meisheng preventative drug at age 20 to prevent the onset of Alzheimer's.

When you harvest leeks, you naturally go for the fattest ones.

Once other pharmaceutical companies developed a similar drug, the Homo Sapiens Company could just play the price-cut card, making it unprofitable for the others.

Just like before, when pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and AstraZeneca were completely at the mercy of the Homo Sapiens Company's Lanf Anning.

After they had developed their so-called wonder drugs, Lanf Anning's price would immediately be lowered. Combined with Lanf Anning's instantly visible effects and fewer side effects, this made it impossible for other pharmaceutical companies to sell their drugs at a high price to recoup R&D costs.

This situation was extremely serious for many pharmaceutical companies.

The major pharmaceutical companies could grit their teeth and endure, but small and medium-sized ones might not even survive one wave before their cash flow broke and they went bankrupt.