After being fired, I became the light of medicine

Chapter 101 Collaboration with Novartis (4K)

The three people present were stunned for a moment and couldn't help but look at each other.

There is nothing wrong with what Friedman, the Jew, said. High sugar, obesity and alcohol have become the daily life of every ordinary American!
It is precisely because of this that in the past decade, the United States has become the country with the fastest growth rate of fatty liver in the world, and the country with the most cirrhosis caused by non-viral hepatitis!

But soon, Klein reacted.

"Friedman, you are right, but all this depends on whether Qingshan Pharmaceutical can really develop a drug that is effective for liver regeneration."

"As far as I know, Gilead is also developing a similar regeneration activator, but the effect is not very good. It has been stuck in the second phase of clinical trials without much progress."

Friedman didn't care about Klein's rebuttal. He shrugged and said confidently:

"This Chinese pharmaceutical company is different from Gilead. They have already developed 'Abrofovir' which can cure hepatitis B. What about Gilead?"

"not at all."

"So, in my opinion, Tsingshan Pharmaceutical's R&D capabilities in the field of liver disease are not necessarily worse than Gilead's, and may even exceed Gilead's."

"And, most importantly..."

He paused deliberately:

"Whether it's Gilead or Pfizer, if they develop a 'liver regeneration activator', will we have a chance to cooperate? Can we get a piece of the pie?"

"impossible."

"And Qingshan Pharmaceutical will be our only chance to get a share of such a large liver disease market."

After he finished speaking, Klein swallowed all the objections he had in his mind. At this moment, he truly understood what Friedman meant.

Indeed, although Novartis is a global pharmaceutical giant, top pharmaceutical companies actually have their own areas of business research and development.

For example, Gilead focuses on liver disease, AIDS and various infectious diseases, and its star products are mainly liver disease and AIDS drugs.

For example, Pfizer mainly deals in 13-valent pneumococcal vaccine, antibiotics (azithromycin), and targeted drugs for breast cancer, so its main core competitiveness also comes from these disease sectors.

Similarly, Novartis' star products are drugs for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and leukemia, but it has almost no competitive products in other disease markets.

That is,

Each major pharmaceutical company has its own core areas, and even for Novartis it is very difficult to enter a market that is not its core area.

Will companies like Gilead and Pfizer give Novartis the opportunity to cooperate after they develop core drugs?
will not!

Only Tsingshan Pharmaceutical has excellent R&D capabilities and is a Chinese pharmaceutical company. They must rely on local American pharmaceutical companies to enter the US market!
This gives Novartis the opportunity to get a piece of the liver disease market!
Thinking of this, President Green couldn't help but slightly change his sitting posture and looked at Friedman with interest.

"Friedman, I admit that I am moved by what you said."

"But do we really need to be so anxious? After all, they haven't even started the first phase of clinical trials yet."

"It's necessary! Very necessary!"

Friedman replied firmly:
"Mr. President, it will be too late to talk about it after they reach Phase II clinical trials."

"You can imagine how many pharmaceutical companies will come to us for cooperation once they show good 'liver regeneration and activation effects' in clinical trials?"

"By then, the situation we face will not be as easy as it is now. We may have to pay a price ten times more than it does now."

"Moreover, through some personal connections, I learned about Fuxing Pharmaceuticals and GlaxoSmithKline, which have agency cooperation with Qingshan Pharmaceutical. They both told me,

Zhang Yang, the boss of Qingshan Pharmaceutical, seems to prefer signing a contract in the form of a normal agent, rather than the BD milestone transaction model that is common in the market now.”

"So... this is actually a good thing for us. We only need to negotiate a priority agency contract with them, and we don't even need to pay an additional buyout fee to get the priority agency rights."

“Once their new drug is really effective and passes Phase III clinical trials, we can make a fortune!
Even if we fail... all we lose is some energy."

The last sentence completely moved the three people present.

President Green looked at Friedman with appreciation. It must be said that this was the shrewdness that came from the Jewish nature.

When everyone was waiting and watching, waiting for the results of Tsingshan Pharmaceutical's Phase II clinical trial to come out before making a decision, Friedman had already keenly noticed the huge information gap and thought of the best way for himself.

"Well, Friedman, you've got me."

As he spoke, he looked at Klein and Coles, who were standing beside him, and they both nodded.

"Since everyone agrees, I'll ask the general manager of the Huaxia region to contact Qingshan Pharmaceutical."

Before he finished speaking, Friedman shook his head:

"President Green, I want to fly to China and discuss this matter with Qingshan Pharmaceutical in person."

"You? Go in person?"

Green was a little surprised, but then nodded in agreement.

"Okay! Then I'll leave this matter to you."

……

Friedman was very efficient. The next night, he boarded a flight from New York to Shanghai.

After a short rest, he appeared in Zhang Yang's office early in the morning of the fourth day.

"You mean, you want to introduce our 'liver cell regeneration activator' now and conduct FDA clinical trials in the United States at the same time?"

Zhang Yang was still a little surprised by Friedman's arrival. Generally speaking, domestic innovative drugs either achieve good results in domestic clinical trials first, and then apply for clinical trials abroad.

For example, the previous "ITG human myelopoietin" and Hengrui Medicine's targeted drug for treating liver cancer, carrelizumab, were both first successful in China before being promoted overseas.

Another method is to conduct clinical trials in the US FDA first.

This situation is mainly because the FDA is highly trusted and can be said to be a weather vane for global drug approvals. As long as the FDA approves it, it is likely that other markets will also be able to pass the approval smoothly.

This is the first choice for companies that aspire to become global giants.

Therefore, it is rare for both sides to proceed simultaneously.

"That's right, Mr. Zhang Yang."

Friedman said:

"To be precise, we are very optimistic about your company's 'liver cell regeneration activator', so we are willing to help your company conduct FDA clinical trials in the United States at the same time."

"Of course, if it can eventually pass the Phase III clinical trial, we hope to obtain the US market sales rights for the drug."

Help us?

Zhang Yang felt something was wrong. Why did these words sound so awkward?

Gradually, he came to his senses and corrected himself:
"President Friedman, I must correct you. It is not because you helped us that you deserve the sales agency rights in the US market."

"It's because you want to get the agency rights that you contacted us. It's you who are begging us."

"Don't get this logic wrong."

Friedman remained calm even after his tricks were exposed. He shrugged and said:
"Does it matter?"

"Very important!"

Zhang Yang answered firmly.

In fact, this technique is very common in negotiations, and is generally used by the weaker party to confuse logical relationships, thereby allowing itself to gain a certain degree of initiative in the negotiations.

"Okay, Zhang." Friedman nodded and then said again:

"Zhang, we are very optimistic about your company's 'liver cell regeneration activator' and we are willing to take the initiative to assist you in conducting FDA clinical trials."

"In exchange, we hope to obtain your company's sales agency rights for this drug in the U.S. market."

Zhang Yang nodded, this sounded like a fair deal after all.

After a moment, his mind started to work rapidly. The actual situation of Qingshan Pharmaceutical is that it does not have the energy or connections to develop overseas markets, and can only rely on these traditional old pharmaceutical companies.

Novartis is also one of the international giants. If they can assist in the FDA's clinical trials, it will undoubtedly reduce a huge burden on Tsingshan Pharmaceutical.

Once the "liver cell regeneration activator" passes the FDA clinical trial and is launched in the United States, it will not only gain huge benefits from the American market, but also bring huge benefits to its global promotion!
Thinking of this, he nodded slightly, already having a plan in mind.

"President Friedman, I have no objection to reaching an agreement with your company."

“However, regarding agency agreements, I prefer a simple agency model and I will not do BD milestone transactions.”

Friedman smiled slightly. Zhang Yang, the boss of Qingshan Pharmaceutical in front of him, was indeed as fond of the traditional agency model as the legend said.

After a moment, he replied:
“No problem, we can accept the traditional agency model.”

"And I've already thought about it for you in advance. We can pre-sign a priority agency contract. After your company enters the Phase III clinical trial, we will discuss the agency price in detail."

"After all, it's too early to talk about price now."

Zhang Yang nodded. He had a similar idea.

"Okay, that leaves one last question."

"I hope that you, Novartis, will bear all the costs of our 'hepatocyte activator' clinical trial in the FDA."

"?"

Friedman was stunned for a moment and showed a surprised expression.

After several seconds, he said incredulously:
"We take it?"

Without waiting for Zhang Yang to answer, he said anxiously for the first time:

"Zhang, this is against the rules."

"We are here to assist you in conducting FDA clinical trials. We can provide you with personal connections and channel resources, and help you contact clinical hospitals and recruit subjects, but the costs are borne by you."

"How can we be considered as sponsoring this? We only signed a traditional agency contract. We don't have any shares or dividends. We are just assisting!"

Zhang Yang shrugged:

"Didn't you say that you got the agency contract?"

"Agency contract?"

Friedman suddenly became a little anxious and said in a low voice:
"This agency contract will only be valid after you pass the FDA's Phase III clinical trial. If you can't even pass Phase II clinical trial, then all this money will be wasted."

Zhang Yang said calmly:
"If you think there is a risk, you can refuse."

"I'm not as eager to enter the U.S. market as you think. Besides, there are pharmaceutical companies in China that are doing FDA clinical trials in the U.S. If I pay, I can totally entrust them to help."

These words touched Friedman's heart, as this was also what he was most worried about.

Once Tsingshan Pharmaceutical finds other channels to enter the FDA, Novartis will most likely miss out on this drug.

This was unacceptable to him.

After a moment, he took a deep breath and whispered:

"We can cover 50% of the cost, even if it is the signing fee of the agency contract."

Zhang Yang shook his head and slowly extended a finger:
"100%."

"60%, this is the maximum."

"100%"

"..."

The final ratio was discussed at 80%.

Novartis bears 80% of the cost of the FDA clinical trial of "Hepatocyte Regeneration Activator", which is counted as the signing fee for signing the agency contract.

Of course, Friedman is not stupid.

The cost of Phase I clinical trials will not be too high and Novartis can fully afford it.

By the time it comes to the second phase of clinical trials, if it is found that the efficacy of the "hepatocyte regeneration activator" is not as good as expected, Novartis can simply give up the agency contract and will not suffer much loss.

Zhang Yang was also quite satisfied. As long as the "liver cell regeneration activator" wanted to be listed in the United States, it would inevitably involve an agency contract. So whoever he was an agent for was not an agent, right?
Wouldn’t you be satisfied with having an agent who is willing to cover 80% of your costs and help you advance FDA clinical trials throughout the entire process?

Both Tsingshan Pharmaceutical and Novartis were relatively satisfied with the negotiations on the "hepatocyte regeneration activator", and both sides got the results they wanted.

The next morning, after the draft contract was signed, Novartis received the letter of authorization from Tsingshan Pharmaceutical and some clinical trial data on the "liver cell regeneration activator". Friedman then returned to the United States to begin preparing for the FDA clinical trial.

Zhang Yang completed the signing of the contract with Novartis and focused his attention on the domestic Phase I clinical approval of the "hepatocyte regeneration activator".

A week later, the "hepatocyte regeneration activator" passed the Phase I clinical approval, and 30 patients with cirrhosis at Chengdu Third People's Hospital immediately began a three-month Phase I and II clinical trial.

Zhang Yang is very confident about the test results. Although the "liver cell activator" is not a complete version, the regeneration factor in it has reached 45%, so...

Once taken for a long time, even if it cannot reverse cirrhosis, it can at least stabilize the condition of patients with cirrhosis and prevent it from worsening.

After dealing with these things, Zhang Yang finally relaxed and called Ren Xiaomin, Wei Tian and Liu Fei to have a hot pot meal that night.

At ten o'clock in the evening, when he returned home, he suddenly found that a new node had appeared in the simulator that he had not entered for a long time.

He sat down on the sofa and entered the simulator skillfully. In the void, the name of the new node lit up on the blue light screen:

"Silent killer."

Zhang Yang couldn't help but ponder. If the first simulation was the tragedy of blood, it referred to aplastic anemia.

The second simulation is about the fate of a generation, referring to the hepatitis B virus that was rampant in that special era.

So what is this silent killer?
After thinking for a while, he shook his head in confusion and simply started the plot simulation.

But when he started to recite silently in his heart, a prompt suddenly came from the screen:
"This node is a limited number of simulation nodes, and the total number of simulations that can be performed is 5 times."

"Please confirm whether to enable simulation."

Zhang Yang was stunned for a moment, but soon accepted this method.

He also has many simulation experiences, and five times is not too few.

"Turn on."

At the command, as darkness enveloped, a few large characters slowly appeared in the void:
"All things are reincarnated, and the human race is eternal."

“Medical Simulation Node 3: Silent Killer!”

"start!"

(End of this chapter)