Chapter 71 Hepatotoxicity of Ecofovir!
Lucas was completely stunned, and gradually, a wry smile emerged from the corner of his mouth.
He finally learned how powerful Zhang Yang is.
After a while, he took a deep breath and stopped arguing:
“Okay, Zhang, let’s get back on track.”
"But the price of 5,000 US dollars per tube is really too expensive. Even the British National Health Center cannot accept it. Do you think it can be lowered?"
Lucas had a good attitude, and Zhang Yang finally made a decision. concession.
The final price is set at US$4,500 each.
In addition, GlaxoSmithKline will also be fully responsible for all clinical costs and process approval of "ITG Generator" in the UK's Phase III clinical trials.
It’s not like Zhang Yang doesn’t want to sell one piece for 5,600 or tens of thousands of dollars.
He knew very well that
In addition to leaving a certain profit for "GSK", he also had to consider completing the deal.
If the negotiation breaks down, the vast majority of British people can choose to fly to Southeast Asia for treatment, and then they will not even earn as much as they do now.
After reaching a preliminary cooperation intention with Lucas, Zhang Yang left the subsequent contract details to Ren Xiaomin.
Brother Ren has sufficient experience in this area and will have no problem completing the contract.
Gradually, Zhang Yang, who was free, focused his energy on the "Starlight Project".
To be precise, it is placed on "Acofenprofovir".
Half an hour later, project leader Wei Tian appeared in the office.
Compared to two months ago, Wei Tian looks significantly thinner, and his temperament seems to be much more restrained.
"Mr. Zhang, here I come."
"Well, sit down first."
Zhang Yang motioned to Wei Tian to sit down on the sofa.
In the past two months, he has almost never asked about the "Ecofovir" project. He only knows that the application for the first phase of clinical trials has been approved, but he does not know the specific progress now.
"You have worked hard recently. Let me tell you first. How is the progress of the first clinical phase?"
"Mr. Zhang, the progress is a bit slow."
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Wei Tian lowered his head in shame, with a hint of bitterness on his face.
Then, he whispered:
"Currently, our clinical trials are mainly conducted at the Third People's Hospital."
"Although West China Hospital and Military Region Hospital We also have a trial site, but the competition is so fierce that we can’t even get a group together in a month.”
“But there are not many hepatitis B patients in the Third People’s Hospital, so the first step of patient recruitment is a bit difficult. .”
"Oh?"
Zhang Yang picked up the tea cup and took a sip, and quickly reacted.
This time "Ekofuvir" participated in the officially organized "Starlight Project". In theory, each pharmaceutical company can conduct clinical trials at will in more than 600 tertiary hospitals across the country.
According to the plan, "Ekofuvir" will focus on clinical trials in five hospitals including West China Hospital and Military Hospital.
But he ignored one point. Although top hospitals like West China have a large number of patients, there are also many pharmaceutical companies gathering together. Pharmaceutical companies like Qingshan Pharmaceutical, which has no influence in the field of liver disease, may still be You really can't steal it from others.
Thinking of this, Zhang Yang couldn't help but comforted:
"It's okay, the Third People's Hospital is also very good!"
"Although the number of patients is smaller, Director Zhou and Director Feng Gang are both veterans. It's easier to be an acquaintance."
"Don't worry, take your time." Wei Tian nodded, his bitter expression finally softened.
Zhang Yang filled him with water himself.
"Let's talk about the situation of other pharmaceutical companies participating in the 'Starlight Project'. How is their progress?"
"Yes."
Wei Tianti He started and replied:
“Now everyone The one that is most concerned about is Gilead in the United States. They have moved 'Hepcludex', which was originally undergoing Phase II clinical trials at the US FDA, to China. The Phase I clinical trial has passed and is now undergoing Phase II clinical trials."
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"Moreover, I have read their latest clinical data. Because of the support of the national 'Starlight Project', their clinical phase II data has been significantly accelerated. It is estimated that Gilead has also increased its investment in research and development."
Zhang Yang Weiwei Nod, this is normal.
The "Starlight Plan" not only provides a 2 billion scientific research subsidy, but also subsidizes 70% of clinical expenses. With the support of major hospitals, every pharmaceutical company is willing to increase investment.
"Domestically, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals originally had a drug 'HR-006' that was in the first clinical phase, and it successfully entered the second clinical phase last month. Hengrui can also see that they are also increasing their efforts. "Others, such as 'Zhengda Tianqing' and 'Guangshengtang', are domestic pharmaceutical companies that have previously developed hepatitis B drugs, and almost all of them have 1-2 drugs that have entered the second phase of clinical trials. .”
"After all, our progress is almost at the last batch, and there are only a few pharmaceutical companies still stuck in the first clinical phase like us."
A trace of apology flashed in Zhang Yang's eyes after hearing this.
In the past two months, it can be said that he has left all the work to Wei Tianhe's R&D team, but with their R&D capabilities, they simply cannot promote this matter.
But at this moment, Wei Tian continued:
“And, the most troublesome thing is, I found that the ingredients of our new drug seem to be highly cytotoxic, but this It has a certain cytotoxicity but has a certain killing effect on hepatitis B virus! ”
"If we don't solve the problem of toxicity, we may not even be able to pass the first clinical phase!"
Cytotoxicity?
Zhang Yang was startled and looked at Wei Tian in surprise.
Only he knows that the toxic ingredients in the medicine were actually designed by him!
To be precise, the "icofenprofovir" provided by the system is actually a slightly toxic treatment drug.
Currently, there are three different medical solutions for curing hepatitis B.
The first one is Gilead's "Hepcludex" drug, which directly allows the drug to enter liver cells and violently kill the hepatitis B virus.
This method is the traditional thinking of killing viruses. The difficulty lies in how to efficiently find infected liver cells and successfully enter the liver cells to kill the hepatitis B virus.
After hepatitis B virus enters hepatocytes, it forms a covalently closed circular DNA, which is extremely stable. It is very difficult to break through the DNA structure and kill it.
The second type is "HR-006" from Hengrui Medicine.
The idea is to use drugs to prevent the hepatitis B virus from entering liver cells. As long as the hepatitis B virus cannot enter the liver cells, there will be no "parasitic environment". In this way, it only needs to kill the hepatitis B virus in the blood.
But this method also has difficulties - how to interfere with each liver cell efficiently and accurately so that the hepatitis B virus cannot enter?
The third type is interferon.
Interferon has been around for 20 years. Its core is to inject interferon to induce the body's own immune cells to work and kill the hepatitis B virus through its own T cells.
But interferon is injected for at least one year, and the side effects are extremely serious!
Hair loss and fever are mild symptoms, but in severe cases, long-term immune hyperactivity may even cause serious side effects such as kidney disease, high blood pressure, and heart disease.
In addition, the actual successful treatment rate is about 20%, and there is almost no large-scale promotion.
What about "Acofenprofovir"?
"Acofenprofovir" is the first variant that violently enters liver cells!
The "styrene" in "Acofenprofovir" is a cytotoxic component. When the drug component is absorbed by all liver cells through the blood.
Normal liver cells will not have any problems after absorption, and it will only slightly accelerate the rate of cell failure by 10%.
Once the infected liver cells absorb the drug, it will immediately induce the drug toxicity of "Icofenprofovir" and accelerate the death of the liver cells, thereby causing the hepatitis B virus to completely die!
(End of this chapter)