After being fired, I became the light of medicine

Chapter 60 Reactions from all parties to the Starlight Project!

As early as 2014, the country launched the first "Starlight Project".

The original plan was to develop a drug that could completely cure hepatitis B before 2020 and completely eliminate hepatitis B!

But the reality is cruel. Due to deficiencies in various aspects, the first Starlight Project failed in 2019!
This is the first time the country has restarted the Starlight Project after a lapse of four years.

The official document was quickly distributed to major domestic pharmaceutical companies, immediately sparking heated discussions within the industry.

"The government will bear 20% of the 70 billion research and development funds and clinical trial costs, and 600 hospitals across the country will open clinical trial sites... Hiss, the policy is so good?!"

"Yes, there is one more thing. Once the research and development is successful, it will be purchased by the state and directly enter all major tertiary hospitals across the country... This means entering all tertiary hospitals across the country!"

"This policy is like the state paving the way for everything..."

As soon as the news came out, domestic pharmaceutical companies with some R&D capabilities were ready to move!

Is it difficult to develop a drug to cure hepatitis B?
difficult!
Very difficult!
The most troublesome thing about the hepatitis B virus is its replication mechanism.

It can replicate infinitely in the human body. As the number of viruses in the body increases, the damage to the liver becomes greater and greater!

This is why if hepatitis B is not controlled for a long time, it is easy to cause cirrhosis and liver cancer.

The second difficulty is also the main reason why it is difficult to completely eliminate:
The reason is that after the hepatitis B virus enters the human body, it will transport its genome into the nucleus of the liver cells, thus forming a stable covalently closed circular DNA.

To put it simply, the hepatitis B virus "parasitizes" in normal liver cells, and you are in me and I am in you.

This state makes it difficult for drugs to recognize infected liver cells, let alone break through the cell nucleus and kill the hepatitis B virus inside!
However, although the mechanism is complex, the virus is also relatively stubborn.

However, after so many years of research on hepatitis B virus, domestic and foreign pharmaceutical companies have a very good understanding of its viral pathology and replication mechanism.

On this basis, drugs that can inhibit the replication of hepatitis B virus have been developed in recent years!
For example: tenofovir alafenamide.

Although tenofovir alafenamide cannot completely eliminate the hepatitis B virus, it can inhibit the unlimited replication of the hepatitis B virus.

In other words, as long as you keep taking the medicine, you can control the amount of hepatitis B virus at a low level, avoid the disease from worsening, and the liver can also be greatly relieved.

The next step, which is also the most important research direction at present, is to break through the liver cell nucleus and completely kill the hepatitis B virus hidden inside!

At present, the medical community has already developed siRNAs (interfering with and destroying viral RNA),

Interference inhibitors (interfere with HBV entry into liver cells),

Capsid inhibitors (interfere with viral DNA protein formation),

Research is ongoing on several methods, including therapeutic vaccines (activating the human immune system). In short, it is difficult to completely eradicate the hepatitis B virus, but we now see hope!
This national move has undoubtedly ignited the enthusiasm of the pharmaceutical industry to conquer hepatitis B!

Jiangsu Province, Hengrui Medicine headquarters.

As one of the top innovative drug research and development companies in the country, Hengrui also received an invitation letter from the country's "Starlight Project".

In the office, General Manager Su Lin looked at the invitation letter in his hand with a smile on his face. After a full minute, he slowly put it on the desk and said with emotion:

"Wen Ping, I never thought that the country would suddenly restart the 'Starlight Project', and this time the policy and funding tilt would be so huge!"

Su Wenping also smiled.

As one of the top innovative pharmaceutical companies in China, although Hengrui Medicine's main research and development direction is tumor-targeted drugs, the company has also had an internal research and development project on hepatitis B drugs, which has just reached Phase I clinical trials.

"That's right, President Su!"

"It can be seen that the country is very determined this time. I also happen to have a hepatitis B drug that has just reached the first phase of clinical trials, so I can just take advantage of this wave of policy benefits!"

"I don't think we have any reason to refuse to participate!" "You are right."

Su Lin's smile widened:

"God is really helping me!"

"Well, Wenping, you must call a meeting of management immediately and focus all of the company's top R&D resources on investing in hepatitis B!"

"This is a rare opportunity, we must seize it to make progress on hepatitis B!"

"it is good!"

……

Top domestic pharmaceutical companies such as Hengrui Medicine are very excited about the "Starlight Project", and other pharmaceutical companies that are already developing hepatitis B drugs are even more excited.

Just the day after the "Starlight Project" was released, several domestic pharmaceutical companies applied to participate in the "Starlight Project".

Not only domestic pharmaceutical companies,

This time, the organizers of the "Starlight Project" also invited some top foreign innovative drug research and development companies to participate.

For example, Gilead Sciences, an American biopharmaceutical company, developed a drug that completely cures hepatitis C.

Gilead Research and Development Building, New York.

In the spacious and bright office, President Daniel was flipping through an original English version of the "Starlight Project" invitation letter. Sitting next to him was the young Vice President John.

"John, the policies given by the Chinese government are really great."

"Two billion is equivalent to 20 million US dollars, which is a huge sum of money for hepatitis B drug research and development."

John had already read the invitation letter and nodded:
"Not only is there a 20 billion RMB research and development bonus, they specifically reminded me that if we can develop a drug that cures hepatitis B, their national medical insurance will directly purchase large quantities from us at a high price."

"To be honest, I'm tempted. China has the largest number of hepatitis B patients in the world. Even if it only costs 500 US dollars to cure a patient, we can earn at least 300 billion US dollars!"

Daniel was not as excited as John and shrugged:

"The premise is that we can really develop it. You know, there are many treatment options in the medical field now, but no one knows which one is the most correct one."

"By the way, I heard that China's Hengrui Medicine also has hepatitis B drug research and development..."

John suddenly chuckled and shook his head.
"Daniel, you overestimate Chinese pharmaceutical companies. Hengrui's tumor targeted drugs are not bad, but they will never be our opponents in liver drugs..."

"So, our real competitors should be Merck, Johnson & Johnson or Pfizer, but their R&D progress is much slower than ours..."

Daniel pouted slightly, his face full of smiles.

"Well man, I can see you're pretty confident!"

"Convene a meeting of the Hepatitis B R&D team this afternoon and tell them that their time to make a fortune is coming!"

"Also, let Andre select a few experienced backbones to join the hepatitis B research and development team. We must speed up the progress!"

"This time, since the Chinese government is sending us money, we will definitely take it!"

……

(End of this chapter)