Surgery Godfather-Chapter 1852 - 1294: Miraculous Power (Part 2)
Just then, Huang Jiacai’s phone rang.
"The second one," Song Zimo said, "And there might be a third and fourth one."
The third call came from San Francisco, and the caller was Marku Reynolds, the founder and CEO of the world’s largest social media platform. This time, he didn’t go through his secretary but directly called Huang Jiacai’s private cell phone.
"Mr. Huang, I’m Marku Reynolds. My Chief Technology Officer, who has been my brother for twenty years, has been diagnosed with diffuse midline glioma. The doctor said the average survival is nine months."
Perhaps Li Gaoyang’s successful treatment of brainstem glioma has spread worldwide, giving hope to all glioma patients, but K Therapy is not just suitable for gliomas.
Huang Jiacai was no longer surprised: "Mr. Reynolds, I’m sorry, but K Therapy is currently in the United States..."
"I know." Marku’s typical Silicon Valley directness and efficiency showed, "I’ve already got my team working on it, launched a ’Life Countdown’ topic on our platform, which has read more than two hundred million times in twenty-four hours; we’ve contacted seventy-three cancer patient organizations across America, and they will hold a joint rally in Washington tomorrow; my legal team is preparing a class-action lawsuit against the FDA for unreasonable delays in approving breakthrough therapies, arguing it violates patients’ rights to life."
Huang Jiacai could almost picture it: the social media giant’s founder personally stepping in, using his platform, his influence, and his legal team to fight for his brother’s life. This kind of power is more direct and harder to stop than any business lobbying.
"But I need your help," Marku continued, "I need Professor Yang Ping’s medical evaluation and your treatment data. With these, I can make the FDA decide within a week under the dual pressure of public opinion and law."
"This might provoke resistance from regulatory institutions." Huang Jiacai cautiously said.
"Then let them resist." Marku’s voice grew cold, "Mr. Huang, let me be clear: my brother is forty-two years old, with two children under ten. He’s one of the smartest people I’ve ever met, and he should live to see his kids grow up, to create more world-changing technologies. If bureaucratic processes try to stop this, I’ll use all my power to tear open a gap."
Huang Jiacai believed he would do so. A man who controls the information flow of billions worldwide, when he decides to go all out for something, the power is terrifying.
"I’ll have Professor Yang Ping’s team evaluate your friend’s medical records as soon as possible."
"The medical records are already on their way to your server. Besides," Marku paused, "If the treatment is successful, I promise to personally donate one billion dollars to establish a global tumor research fund. This is not a transaction, it’s gratitude."
In the next seventy-two hours, similar requests flooded to Sanbo Research Institute and Ruixing from all over the world.
The female heir of a French luxury goods group, the head of an old Italian car family, the third generation of a Japanese conglomerate, the wife of an Australian mining giant... Behind each name is a vast network of social resources. Many of them know each other, belonging to the same social circle, and when a crisis strikes, this circle connects rapidly.
They don’t go through pharmaceutical companies, don’t go through government channels, but directly find Ruixing and Sanbo Research Institute. Some use various relationships, some use media resources, some use legal means, but their core demand is only one: to get treatment for their loved ones as soon as possible.
In Huang Jiacai’s office, the assistant sorted out a list: "This week, we received seventeen special requests from twelve countries. The commonalities among the patients are: severe illness with no effective other treatments, families have significant social influence, all expressed willingness to push their countries to speed up approval."
Originally, Huang Jiacai thought that what would promote the globalization of K Therapy would be commercial interests, pharmaceutical giants for the market, governments for industry, investors for returns, but he was wrong.
The real driving force is humanity’s most primal survival instinct in the face of death, the deepest pain of losing loved ones. This power doesn’t follow business logic, doesn’t care for political rules, it’s like lava, hot enough to melt all obstacles.
"Notify all departments," Huang Jiacai turned around, "We need to initiate an emergency plan, coordinate to increase capacity, reserve some for emergency treatment; the legal team should prepare to handle the different emergency approval clauses of each country."
"What about the universal framework?" The assistant worriedly asked, "If these resourceful people jump the queue, will ordinary patients be pushed to the back?"
Huang Jiacai was silent, indeed it is a problem - limited medical resources, who gets priority itself is an ethical dilemma.
He finally said, "Medical evaluation is completely based on the severity of the illness, without considering patient identity; if emergency approval is initiated, the universal channel of the patient’s country must be opened simultaneously. We can’t let privilege become an exception, but use it as a hammer to break the barrier. However, with the help of these people, the universal program will be promoted faster."
As Ruixing scrambled to cope, at the headquarters of major pharmaceutical giants worldwide, executives were caught in a complex emotion: shock, bewilderment, and deep powerlessness.
Schneider looked at the "Emergency Use Authorization" notice just released by the EMA, frowning tightly.
The announcement shows that under "special humanitarian circumstances," the EMA will allow K Therapy to be restrictively used for critical patients before completing all three phases of clinical trials. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝒆𝔀𝒆𝙗𝓷𝒐𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝓸𝓶
And the promoters of this "special situation" are three members of the European Parliament, two members of the royal family, and an informal alliance of European business leaders.
"We spent months lobbying, designing data safety frameworks, negotiating cooperation terms." Schneider told the executives in the meeting room, "And they, only took a week, to push the door open."
A vice president smiled wryly: "Because we’re doing business, they’re saving lives. These two motivations are in completely different leagues, and their power far exceeds ours."
The same scenario occurred in New York, Thompson had just hung up his Washington friend’s call, learning the FDA is likely to release similar emergency authorization next week.
"Who’s pushing it?" He asked.
"Senator Walker, Silicon Valley’s Marku Reynolds, and... a few folks from Wall Street. They’ve formed a tumor patient family alliance, updating social media every day with their loved one’s illness progress, read over three billion times."
Thompson shook his head: "We are still discussing approval fee ratios, they are already rewriting the rules of the game."
The most embarrassing perhaps are those companies that originally planned to use approval as a bargaining chip, France’s Dupont had planned to propose at the next negotiation: "We could help push EMA approval, but would need more favorable terms." Now, the approval pushed itself, his bargaining chip vanished.
"We’re marginalized." Dupont admitted in an internal meeting, "Patients and families organized themselves, they don’t need us as intermediaries. Ruixing also doesn’t need us, now regulators of various countries opened doors under pressure, Ruixing and K Therapy can directly enter the market."
"Then what should we do?"
"Reposition," Dupont said, "If we can’t be gatekeepers, then let’s be service providers, Ruixing needs production, needs logistics, needs localization support, we can still do these things, it’s just the profit margin might not be as big as we imagined."
"Sometimes, compromise is also a victory."
The global pharma industry power dynamics, within a week, underwent subtle and deep changes. The traditional giants suddenly found that in this new era, the most important resource is no longer approval channels, no longer the doctor networks, not even the sales teams but the trust of patients, a medicine that truly saves lives.
And this trust, Ruixing, through Li Gaoyang’s case, has already won.
