godfather of surgery

Chapter 1129 Drug Tester

"Let's go and see your senior sister." Yang Ping put on a white coat and began to make rounds.

Is she really a senior sister? This was said by Professor Yang himself, not by Sisi herself.

If this "senior" was someone else, whether it was Song Zimo, Xu Zhiliang, or any other doctor, they would definitely not acknowledge his identity, even if it was just talk.

But this "senior" was Sisi, so they acquiesced and didn't feel too unhappy. After all, they were just kids playing around.

Sisi was fiddling with her cactus in the corner. During her illness, everyone was busy caring for her and taking care of her. They had forgotten the existence of this cactus and no one took care of it.

But it doesn't matter, it is still growing well, and the necrotic black corners have now been almost filled up. The color is greener than before and looks more vibrant.

The grand ward rounds are always a grand occasion. There are already a lot of people crammed behind Yang Ping. Some doctors can no longer squeeze into the ward and can only stand on tiptoe in the corridor outside the door to look around. If other professors are doing the ward rounds, they will definitely be glad that they stay outside and then wait leisurely for the team to finish the rounds and come out.

But Professor Yang’s ward rounds were different. People who were blocked outside were very anxious. They stood on tiptoe and pricked up their ears, hoping to hear what Professor Yang was saying inside, for fear of missing a word.

Head Nurse Cai helped Sisi sit on the chair beside the bed. Yang Ping asked some questions and then performed various neurological examinations on her. There was no problem and everything was normal.

The surgical incision healed well and the stitches have been removed long ago.

"Are you feeling uncomfortable now?" Yang Ping asked.

Sisi shook her head: "Headache, dizziness, nausea and vomiting, none of these symptoms, but there is one abnormal symptom."

"What are the symptoms?" Yang Ping immediately became alert. He had to be careful of anything that might be abnormal.

Sisi thought for a moment and said, "I'm not sure if it's related to this treatment, but the symptoms are obvious."

Everyone looked at her, waiting for her to tell them what the symptoms were, and she was a little hesitant.

"You can't laugh at me."

"It's okay, just say whatever you want." Yang Ping encouraged her.

Sisi said: "After this treatment, my memory is obviously much better than before. I used to have a good memory, but it is even better after this treatment. I can almost remember everything I read in a book. I can recite a text I have never read before just by reading it once. Although my memory was good before, I always had to remember it several times before I could remember it."

Is this a symptom? I guess.

"Really?" Song Zimo asked in surprise.

Sisi nodded: "Anyway, the difference in memory before and after treatment is really too obvious. If it weren't obvious, I wouldn't say anything. Is this considered abnormal?"

It's really abnormal!

Yang Ping couldn't figure out for the time being why her memory had become so good. Was it real or just her self-perception?

"How about this, let us do a test for you to see if you really have a photographic memory." Yang Ping asked Song Zimo to write it down and find a time to test it.

"You can test me now. Really, it's not an illusion. My memory has really become super strong." Sisi was a little anxious. She thought everyone thought it was an illusion after the operation.

"Okay, let's try it now." Yang Ping looked at the crowd.

One graduate student immediately contributed an article: "This is a draft of a paper I wrote myself. I just printed it out from my computer last night. You must not have read it. You can try it."

Song Zimo took it and took a look. This paper was too profound and completely incomprehensible for a child. But it was okay, as it was most suitable for testing her memory.

Song Zimo handed it to Sisi, who read it word by word, pointing her finger all the way down so that people could see that she had only read it once. After reading it once, she handed the manuscript to Yang Ping.

''I'll recite it to you.''

Sisi started reciting immediately.

Yang Ping looked at the manuscript and was very surprised that she had actually memorized it word for word.

No way!
"Sisi, can we play a few games of chess, blind chess, after work this afternoon?" Yang Ping felt that this was not an easy matter and he had to be cautious.

Sisi nodded: "Okay."

This is indeed strange. How can memory be enhanced after treatment? Could this biological agent also enhance memory, or does my surgery have this function? If memory enhancement is true, what is the cause? Is it a good thing or a bad thing?

Yang Ping must study it thoroughly.

Song Zimo looked at Yang Ping in confusion, and everyone looked at Yang Ping in confusion, hoping that he could give a reasonable explanation.

"We need to study this matter carefully. I don't know the reason now." Yang Ping could only say truthfully.

Sisi was also surprised by her change: "I find it strange that I used to have to read an article many times before I could memorize it, but now I can memorize it unconsciously after reading it once. It's so strange."
-
After the rounds, the nurses called: "Doctor Zhang, someone wants to see you. They say it's related to the first phase clinical trial of a new drug."

Zhang Lin felt strange. He had not made any appointment with anyone, but the institute was currently recruiting 100 volunteers and it had not yet filled the quota, not to mention the cancer patients for the Phase II experiment. Since someone came to ask about this, he went to see what was going on.

Clinical trials for new drugs are generally divided into four phases. The target population for the Phase I trial is healthy people, Phase II and Phase III are for patients with indications, and Phase IV is a larger-scale clinical observation after the drug is approved for marketing.

Phase I clinical trials are used to test the toxic and side effects of new drugs, so they are generally conducted on healthy people.

Although some data have been obtained from Sisi, they are data from a single case and are not statistically significant.

Generally speaking, the subsidies for volunteers in phase I clinical trials range from several thousand yuan to tens of thousands of yuan, but the subsidy given by Sanbo Research Institute is very high. The experiment lasts for one month, and each person is given a subsidy of 200,000 yuan, which is very rare in China.

After the announcement was made, not many people responded. Perhaps when they saw such a high subsidy, they thought that the side effects of this new drug must be very serious, and could even cause death at any time, otherwise why would it be given so much subsidy.

Zhang Lin looked over and saw a man with slicked hair and powdered face standing outside the glass door. He was about thirty years old and dressed quite formally in a well-ironed suit and shiny leather shoes. He was carrying a briefcase in his hand. If you didn't know him well, you would have thought he was a salesman.

"Teacher Zhang!"

The glass door opened, and the man immediately greeted Zhang Lin enthusiastically. "Do you know me?" Zhang Lin felt strange.

"Of course I know you, Mr. Zhang from the research institute. You are in charge of interns, trainees, and graduate students. You are the author of the world's first monograph on hooks and a leading expert in the field of hooks. You are also responsible for recruiting volunteers for this new drug experiment." The man was very eloquent.

Zhang Lin adjusted his hair. It seemed that he was quite famous.

"Are you looking for me?"

The man immediately came up to him and said, "I'm here to talk to you about the volunteers for the Phase I clinical trial of the new drug."

"Then come in!"

Zhang Lin brought him to the conference room. Because it had been such a long time since the announcement, only a few volunteers contacted him proactively. Zhang Lin just wanted to know the reason. Now there happened to be a volunteer coming to consult, so they could talk.

"Sit down, are you here to respond?" Zhang Lin asked.

The man shook his head and handed over the door card: "Teacher Zhang, I am the project manager of the new drug clinical trial - Yang Qifa, or the intermediary. I have 5,000 qualified volunteers for the first phase of clinical trials, and you can choose at any time."

"Five thousand?"

"Yes, you will definitely not be able to find anyone if you openly recruit from the public. You should leave this matter to us. We will cooperate with you and help you get it done in a few days."

This is a good thing, and Zhang Lin immediately became interested.

"Tell me, how can we cooperate?"

Boss Yang immediately started talking: "Let me calculate. Your average daily salary is about 6,000 per person, which is too much. I only want 3,000 per person as a subsidy, and you can keep the rest, but we will still sign the contract at the original price." Boss Yang is a seasoned man, and he thought Zhang Lin was also a seasoned man, so he didn't hide anything.

For such a high subsidy, he only wants 3,000 per person. In the end, he plans to deduct 2,500 from the 3,000 and give each person 500, which is 15,000 a month. With 15,000, these people will be extremely happy.

"Teacher Zhang, what do you think? You can keep your money directly or we can return it to you. When you need volunteers in the future, just contact me. I can help you find volunteers not only for the Phase I clinical trial, but also for the Phase II and Phase III. Leave this matter to me in the future, and I will definitely do it properly for you." Boss Yang used to work in this business with others, and he has only been on his own for two or three years. If he can climb up the big tree of Sanbo Hospital, making a fortune in the future will not be a problem.

Zhang Lin was dumbfounded. He had never thought that clinical trials of drugs would have intermediaries specifically to transport volunteers, and that there was also a set of mature operating procedures.

"Is this possible?" Zhang Lin asked doubtfully.

It seems that Zhang Lin is a novice, which makes it easier to deal with. Boss Yang immediately said:
"You don't understand the ins and outs of this, and it's easy for something to go wrong. I know your institute is great, but everyone has their own expertise. Without professionals to operate it, you can easily be deceived by these volunteers."

"For example, smoking is generally not allowed during the test. But everyone in the industry knows that when taking a urine test after smoking, you can drop one or two drops of white vinegar into the urine to pass the test."

Mr. Yang explained professionally,

"The nicotine left in the body after smoking is metabolized into cotinine, which can be neutralized with white vinegar to pass the test. There are many similar methods. For example, if the transaminase is abnormal, use ten times the dose of bifendate to deal with the drinking problem, so that the transaminase will return to normal."

"If the white blood cell count is high, then donate platelets before the physical examination, and the white blood cell count will naturally drop." He said, "As for the most critical urine test, it can even be easily replaced with someone else's sample. The process is: while the subjects go to the toilet one after another, prepare small bottles of urine samples from others in advance and tie them to their thighs, so that the temperature during sampling will not arouse the nurse's suspicion."

"There are some other very basic regulations: for example, you cannot undergo other drug trials within three months. You can use other people's ID cards to solve this problem, which is sometimes difficult to recognize. I have someone who once participated in drug trials in three hospitals at the same time." When saying this, Boss Yang's face showed more pride of knowing this well.

"For example, when participating in trials at several hospitals in one day, experienced subjects will never let doctors or nurses see the needle marks on their arms. They will just put on some foundation like girls and everything will look like new."

Boss Yang grinned and said,
"The biggest cheating is that the subject swallows the medicine in front of the doctor and spits it out after leaving the doctor's sight, but not everyone can do it because the doctor will ask the subject to open his mouth for inspection after taking the medicine."

"So you don't understand these things, and you are easily deceived. You can't get real data at all. They took the money and didn't even give you the drug to test."

"Many agents are more ruthless than me. I am a person of conscience, so you can rest assured to cooperate with me. I promise to keep a close eye on them and prevent them from making any false claims. If you come by yourself and have no experience, you will definitely be cheated by them. Being cheated of money is a small matter, but collecting false data is a big deal."

I was obedient, and Zhang Lin immediately said, "Then you should first get a hundred people to interview, and I will see how the situation goes before making a decision."

"Okay!" Boss Yang shook hands and made the deal.

Zhang Lin immediately reported everything to Yang Ping. He had no intention of taking kickbacks or anything, so he also reported all the scams to Yang Ping.
-
A few days later, Boss Yang brought a hundred people.

Tang Shun was personally responsible for the screening of these people and formed a team of doctors, nurses and laboratory researchers to interview the volunteers.

"Why did you volunteer to participate in the drug trial? Do you know the risks?"

This is the first question in the interview.

"I want to buy a new iPhone. Is that a reason? Don't worry, I have experience and I can guarantee the completion of the task."

"I...I...owe an online loan, so I have no choice. I heard that the daily salary here is 500, including food and accommodation, and the drug testing cycle is relatively long, so I can earn 15,000 per trip."

"I... this is my profession. I have been doing this for ten years."

"Save money to marry a wife. My family wants 180,000 yuan as a dowry."

"I've been unemployed for a long time. I have elderly and young children at home. I heard that this place costs 500 a day."

The interview venue was very lively. I didn’t expect that these volunteers had so many stories. But it was indeed helpless. If they didn’t really need the money, who would risk their own health to make money?

At least ninety of these one hundred people are professional drug testers, and they are usually under the management of Boss Yang.

Generally speaking, ordinary people don’t know this kind of information at all, and don’t know where to find it. Specialized intermediaries will search for this kind of information everywhere, and some of them even cooperate with pharmaceutical companies and hospitals.

Five hundred? The price we offered was five thousand, how could it be five hundred?

Zhang Lin whispered in Tang Shun's ear: "This agent said that he only wanted 3,000 yuan per person, but he deducted 2,500 yuan from each person. He is really cruel. Let's see if these people are qualified first. If they are really qualified, I will talk to him and have a frank discussion. As long as the job is done well, the 2,500 yuan he gives each person is not a small amount, but the money for the volunteers cannot be reduced either."

Zhang Lin just wanted to use this sheep boss to get to know the inside story of this business. If this sheep boss hadn't spoken out, everyone might have really been cheated.

By then the money has been spent, but the data quality is very poor.