Rebirth: Controlled Nuclear Fusion

Part 175：Huakang Pharmaceutical Company

Kyoto Huakang Pharmaceutical Company!

Located in the southeastern economic development zone of Kyoto, the factory covers an area of more than 100,000 square meters and employs nearly 5,000 people! In a city where every inch of land is precious, the sheer size of this factory speaks volumes about the strength of Huakang Pharmaceutical.

The factory itself is aligned in a perfect rectangular shape, with six-story U-shaped buildings on the south, west, and north sides.

In the inconspicuous corner of the eastern side of the factory, there stands a two-story white house, covering an area of about 200 square meters. Yet, it consumes the entire annual profit of the factory every year. This is the laboratory established by Huakang Pharmaceutical three years ago to develop cancer-targeting drugs.

The laboratory is equipped with numerous medical devices, all imported from abroad, each one worth a fortune. Inside, there are 11 pharmaceutical research and development technicians, who are considered among the nation's elite talents in the field of cancer drug research.

In one of the laboratories on the second floor, a young technician whispered to their chief engineer, Song Zhe:

"Chief Song, I've heard that the company is facing some problems and may even be on the verge of bankruptcy!"

Song Zhe paid no attention, continuing his experiment as usual. His assistant, seeing that Song Zhe remained silent, reluctantly closed his mouth.

It wasn't until Song Zhe finished a molecular experiment for a drug that he finally spoke. About five minutes later, the results were in. He furrowed his brows slightly, clearly disappointed by another failure.

Over the past three years, their team had conducted over 12,000 drug molecular experiments, all of which ended in failure.

The process of developing cancer-targeting drugs generally follows three steps:

Identifying the target and the drug molecule: The target refers to a specific molecule in the body that the drug will act upon to achieve therapeutic effects. The drug molecule must be selected from a pool of hundreds of thousands, a process fraught with difficulty and high failure rates.Preclinical research: Once the drug molecule is confirmed, in vivo and in vitro experiments must be conducted. If any of these fail, the drug molecules must be re-screened from the beginning.Clinical research: This stage is not only costly but also time-consuming, often taking months or even years. By this point, the failure rate is already significant.

In short, developing cancer-targeting drugs is a long and costly process, with a low success rate. On average, it costs around 10 billion yuan to develop a new drug and bring it to market.

Song Zhe's lab had identified two promising drug molecules, but both failed during preclinical trials and clinical trials, forcing them to return to the first stage of molecule screening.

Song Zhe poured himself a cup of coffee, taking a break before moving on to the next molecular experiment.

His assistant, Liu Li, walked over with the research results, and spoke:

"Chief Song, you won't believe it, but the information I've heard is very reliable. One of our senior technicians has already made arrangements with a pharmaceutical company abroad!"

Song Zhe's thoughts were interrupted by Liu Li, and he snapped, "Liu, where did you hear such rumors?"

Liu Li, seeing that Song Zhe was paying attention, perked up and said mysteriously, "Chief Song, this is no rumor. My uncle is the CFO of Huakang Pharmaceutical. I overheard it by accident..."

Song Zhe was aware of Liu Li's uncle's position, but he didn't believe the news. After all, Huakang Pharmaceutical was primarily involved in the production of antibiotics. Three years ago, the company's owner had approached him with the idea of developing cancer-targeting drugs.

To ensure Song Zhe's full commitment to the project, the owner had shown him the company's financial reports, revealing an annual profit of 2 billion yuan. The owner, Ren Dayuan, had promised Song Zhe that as long as he focused on research, Huakang could support him for ten years.

Believing in this vision, Song Zhe had agreed to join the research team, confident that in ten years, he would be able to develop a groundbreaking cancer drug.

"Chief Liu," Song Zhe said coldly, "I suggest you start looking for another position. Otherwise, you might find yourself unemployed."

"Little Liu," he added, "You seem to have too much time on your hands. Go and prepare the lab equipment; I'm about to start another experiment!"

Liu Li, seeing that Song Zhe didn't believe her, reluctantly went to organize the experiment materials.

After a brief five-minute break, Song Zhe plunged back into his work.

...

In the office of Huakang Pharmaceutical's CEO, Ren Dayuan sat with a troubled expression. The manager of the marketing department was seated across from him, visibly angry.

"These companies are so insidious! Now that they see our funds running dry, they've all come together to drive us to the brink of collapse!"

Ren Dayuan sighed helplessly, "Ah, business is truly a battlefield."

"Ren, looking back, we shouldn't have ventured into cancer drug development. In three years, we've burned through 6 billion, and now we're facing this crisis."

Ren Dayuan had initially decided to pursue cancer drug development after seeing how many people in the country could not afford imported cancer drugs. Despite opposition, he had resolved to develop a domestic solution for China.

Over the past three years, Huakang Pharmaceutical had invested every penny of its profits into cancer-targeting drug research.

Previously, Huakang's antibiotics had dominated half the domestic market, making it feasible to sustain a research laboratory. However, in the past two years, many new pharmaceutical companies producing antibiotics had emerged, causing fierce competition and a sharp decline in Huakang's business.

Now, their market share had dropped to under 10%, and the dramatic fall in profits had left the company on the verge of bankruptcy. With bank loans coming due and competitors banding together to cut prices, Huakang Pharmaceutical now faced an existential threat.