Chapter 147 BI Company’s decision! (Please subscribe)
The reason why BI originally developed the "toxin filtering catalyst" is very simple.
According to the latest statistics from Fresenius Medical Care, a German company next door and the world's largest hemodialysis company:
There are currently approximately 5.5 million uremia patients in the world, of which 4.5 million Millions of patients receive regular hemodialysis treatment, and the annual sales of the consumables market alone are as high as US$17 billion.
Don’t you want a share of the pie?
I definitely want to.
In addition, as countries around the world have banned the procurement of human organs from executed prisoners, the only sources of kidneys can only be through volunteer donations and kidney sources provided by family members.
This means that fewer patients can undergo kidney transplantation, and the vast majority of patients can only receive hemodialysis.
In addition, with the increase in patients with hypertension and diabetes in recent years, the global number of uremia patients has also shown an annual growth rate of about 15%. In the next few decades, more and more patients will need dialysis. .
It can be said,
Whether now or in the future, hemodialysis is a "highly prosperous" medical field. Who wouldn't be interested?
Of course,
The dialysate market has been monopolized by "Fresenius Medical Care" next door, and it is difficult to squeeze in. BI can only find another way and target "macromolecule toxins" "Catalyst" is a niche track,
As long as it can really increase the hemodialysis filtration rate from the current 85% to 92%, the "toxin filtration catalyst" will definitely be sought after by the market, and may even be used for fifty years. No problem with the bonus!
But now!
The emergence of Tsingshan Pharmaceutical's "Kidney Clearing Dialysis Needle" not only begins to seize existing hemodialysis patients, but also has the potential to delay "stage four kidney disease" and may greatly reduce the number of uremia patients in the future. quantity!
Especially the last point, it simply ruins the future prospects of the entire "hemodialysis market"!
In the luxurious conference room on the 14th floor of BI's German headquarters, five senior executives looked extremely solemn.
"Mr. President, I should have thought of the possible impact of the 'Kidney Toxin Clearing Dialysis Needle' on our 'BI-Toxin Filtration Catalyst';
I didn't notice it, either. It’s my fault for not thinking about this issue!”
In the solemn conference room, Vice President Hans broke the silence and stood up first to assume his responsibilities.
As the main person in charge of the "BI-Toxin Filtration Catalyst" project, he must stand up and take the blame.
Thirty seconds later, President Dusman, who was sitting directly above him with a serious face, slowly shook his head:
"Hans, you are not entirely to blame for this matter. , who would have thought that Qingshan Pharmaceutical’s research and development speed would be so fast and the price would be so low? ”
“I think it’s not just us, I’m afraid even the hemodialysis companies headed by Fresenius Medical Care next door didn’t expect that Qingshan Pharmaceutical’s ‘Shenduqing’ would bring such a big impact. Impact! So big that it affects the entire industry! ”
Hans breathed a sigh of relief and felt a little warm in his heart.
Although President Dusman is not very humane, he does not put all the responsibility on himself at this moment.
However,
after relaxing a little, he had to face this trouble again.
He hesitated slightly and said:
"Mr. President, now the entire 'hemodialysis market' has undergone major changes, and our 'toxin catalyst' project has also entered a new stage!"
"Now we have to make a choice, you see We will continue to invest more R&D funds as planned to carry out the next phase of work. , or..."
"Put the 'Toxin Catalyst' project on hold for the time being."
As he spoke, Hans's eyes flashed with helplessness, and he added:
" There is another situation that I must also tell you, although it is a bit cruel..."
"According to the latest news, Fresenius Medical Care next door has begun to prepare for significant price cuts. It is said that this time their prices for 'dialysate', 'dialysis filters' and other consumables will be reduced by more than 30%!"
30% price reduction!
This news made the already solemn atmosphere in the conference room even worse.
Several senior executives looked at each other in surprise, with helplessness in their eyes.
To put it harshly, the "Toxin Filtration Catalyst" project was originally established to make money. Now, before the catalyst has been developed, the entire industry has drastically cut prices and entered the cold winter.
If we continue to invest, will we still be able to make money even after the research and development is completed?
Everyone looked at President Dusman directly above.
Dusman also frowned. After thinking for a long time, he frowned and waved his hand, but did not answer directly.
"Hans, please first tell me about the current situation of the 'Toxin Filtration Catalyst' project."
"Okay."
"More than half a year ago, when we were conducting Phase I clinical trials, the clinical data of 'catalyst' was only about 2.5%.
After more than two months of searching for the problem, we determined that it was because the 'catalyst' was in the dialysis machine. The reaction time between lithium and blood was too short, so the 'catalyst' could not completely and effectively decompose macromolecular toxins, resulting in data that was lower than expected."
The senior management nodded slightly, everyone understood this situation at the beginning.
The "Toxin Filtration Catalyst" was indeed able to quickly and effectively decompose macromolecular toxins in the blood when it was first used in the laboratory, but it was only discovered after applying it to human trials; in the human environment and blood circulation, " The "catalyst" needs at least one hour to be fully integrated to achieve an effective decomposition effect of more than 90%.
“At first we thought of several solutions:”
“The first is to ask the patient to inject our ‘catalyst’ one hour in advance before dialysis;”
“The second is to increase the dialysis time, from the original 4 hours to 5 hours! ”
“But both methods will increase the patient’s dialysis time, so It was all rejected at the time!"
"Later, there were only two ways left:"
"The first is to find ways to improve the decomposition efficiency of the catalyst so that it can be used within a limited time. Here, the dialysate is used in the dialysis machine to complete the filtration of macromolecular toxins. ”
"The second method is to inject the 'catalyst' into the body simultaneously during dialysis, allowing it to circulate and decompose in the body, and ultimately complete the filtration of macromolecular toxins."
"In the end, we chose the first method. Continuing the idea when the project was originally established!"
"Now, After nearly half a year of hard work, we have increased the decomposition efficiency from 2.5% to 4%! ”
“Of course, if we want to continue research and development, we want to achieve the goal of more than 6% when we established the project. , we need to invest more in scientific research funding.” 4% to 6%.
The senior management present took a slight breath. If it had been done before, such results would have been enough for everyone to continue investing without thinking.
But now, the industry environment has changed, and the entire extracorporeal hemodialysis market has suffered a huge impact!
Then stay on hold for now?
I am not willing to give in!
In this way, the early investment in scientific research will be in vain!
The senior executives were thinking and hesitating. About a minute later, a senior executive in charge of technology research and development suddenly raised his voice:
"In addition to continuing to invest in research and development and temporarily shelving it, I wonder if we have a third option?"
“The third option?”
“Yes, in fact, a few months ago, when we first needed to choose an option , I noticed that Qingshan Pharmaceutical’s ‘Kidney Toxin Clearing Dialysis Needle’ is actually very compatible with our ‘Toxin Filtration Catalyst’.”
“Our ‘Catalyst’ takes an hour to completely dissolve in the blood. Fusion, for hemodialysis, the cost of adding one hour is too high, but for 'Shenduqing', this is not a problem at all. ”
"Their 'Kidney Toxin' injection lasts for 48 hours, do they still care about our one hour? Patients can completely inject at the same time!"
"And!"
"'Kidney Toxin Qing' is very effective at breaking down small molecule toxins, and we happen to be able to break down large molecule toxins. This is absolutely a perfect complement!"
"So! , I think we can turn around now and start a new project to develop a 'toxin catalyst' that is directly injected into the human body, so as to form a perfect match with Qingshan Pharmaceutical's 'Shenduqing'?"
" Their sales are very strong now. I think the better their sales are, the better our sales will be with them.”
"If the injectable 'catalyst' is successfully developed by then, and there is an injectable 'catalyst' to support it, maybe we can restart the in vitro 'catalyst' that is currently on hold."
After the words fell, everyone looked at each other. Bright.
They are not executives responsible for scientific research and technology, so they are not so sensitive in terms of technical direction.
After hearing this, I immediately felt that it was indeed interesting.
However, just as the senior executives began to discuss excitedly, Hans suddenly shook his head:
"Dr. Schmidt, you forgot one thing!"
"More than half a year ago, Qingshan Pharmaceutical contacted us to obtain the patent authorization of 'Toxin Filtration Catalyst', but we refused."< br>
“Later, they immediately announced the establishment on the official website For the 'Macromolecular Toxin Catalyst' project similar to ours, Dr. Fang Hanliang, who resigned from us, also joined them."
Schmidt shook his head:
"It's only been more than half a year. Their research and development speed will not be so fast!”
But as soon as he finished speaking, even he himself suddenly hesitated.
While hesitating, he added:
“It’s only half a year, their research and development speed can’t be so fast, right? And they don’t seem to have announced any research and development results yet?”
< br>Hans showed a wry smile:
“We definitely don’t have to worry too much about other pharmaceutical companies!”
“But they are——
Qingshan Pharmaceutical!”
“If you know them, you will know that they either don’t publish any progress, and once they publish the results, they can promote clinical marketing almost immediately. ..."
"So, Dr. Schmidt, Now Tsingshan Pharmaceutical is definitely developing its own 'macromolecular toxin catalyst'.
If we rashly initiate the project now, we won't say whether we can develop it. Even after it is developed, we will inevitably face problems with Tsingshan. Competition in the pharmaceutical industry! ”
"You must know that 'Shenduqing' is their own product. If they have their own 'catalyst', it is absolutely impossible for them to cooperate with us and use our injection 'catalyst'."
Hans His words were like a basin of cold water that extinguished the newly raised hopes of everyone present.
Yes!
The injectable "catalyst" mentioned by Dr. Schmidt undoubtedly needs to be combined with "Shenduqing" for combined use.
If Qingshan Pharmaceutical develops similar drugs by itself, can it cooperate with itself?
Impossible!
There was a brief silence in the conference room.
After about tens of seconds, another executive in charge of marketing suddenly said:
“That’s it, I suggest we shelve the ‘Catalyst’ project for the time being!”
"Thoughts of Dr. Schmidt The method is very good, but as Hans said, if we re-initiate the project to develop an injection 'catalyst', we will first have to compete head-on with Tsingshan Pharmaceutical. Even if the research and development is successful, we will still be completely dependent on 'Tsingshan Pharmaceutical'. "Kidney poison clearing"
"Instead of going through this trouble, I think didn't Qingshan Pharmaceutical contact us before?"
"They previously wanted to obtain the patent authorization of our 'toxin filtration catalyst', we can ask them if they are still interested." ! ”
< br>“Or, we simply sell it to them, and then let them use it to develop drugs, and we collect the sales dividends of the new drugs!”
After the words fell,
Several people present looked at each other, Especially the last sentence touched everyone.
Instead of working hard and taking risks to develop drugs, now it is better to sell it to Qingshan Pharmaceutical and let them do the hard work, and then reap the results yourself and get the dividends of the new drug!
Given the sales capabilities of Qingshan Pharmaceutical, there will be no shortage of dividends!
(End of this chapter)