A doctor who travels through two eras

Wang Muye, a burly man standing 185 centimeters tall, burst into laughter upon hearing this:
"Chairman Lin, you're too modest. Old Zhou told me that Chairman Lin is an unfathomable big boss, far beyond what we pharmaceutical people can compare to."

The profit from selling just one of your Lingnantang wild ginsengs is probably equivalent to the cost of producing dozens of tons of raw materials. So, we earn our money through hard work.

I acted impulsively back then, thinking that since we had joined the WTO and were about to become the world's factory, with our country's efficiency, wouldn't we dominate the world's pharmaceutical market?

So I invested all my family's assets and took out a huge loan from the bank, spending a full 02 billion yuan to build this pharmaceutical factory in 10.

One billion in 2002! Oh my god, I regret it so much now.

"If I had used all that money to buy houses back then, especially courtyard houses in the capital, I would be the richest person in the country by now."

After saying that, Wang Muye slapped his thigh in distress, then pointed to the row of instruments in front of him and said:
"This raw material plant is a bottomless pit. Chairman Lin, don't be fooled by the size of my pharmaceutical factory. We are the largest supplier of cephalosporins in China, but the competition is fierce."

Right now, our company is really focused on volume, low profit margins and high sales volume; we try to earn whatever we can.

Otherwise, if this machine stops, the daily losses will be enormous, and restarting it will require a large amount of cleaning costs, so we can't stop it.

Chairman Lin, look, just look at these reaction vessels. There are many kinds, such as fiberglass reaction vessels, stainless steel reaction vessels, carbon steel reaction vessels, and so on.

"My goodness, the tech department is constantly applying for technology upgrades and equipment replacements; it's driving me crazy!"

Zhou Daxin, standing to the side, also smiled wryly:
"It's really unbelievable now. Those of us in the manufacturing industry are struggling to stay afloat. It's a miracle if we don't lose money. The slightest market fluctuation could lead to bankruptcy. It's a terrible situation."

Meanwhile, those who speculated in real estate, stocks, and finance all made a fortune.

Among my old friends from the same generation who came out to make their way in the world are Xu Baorun, Li Baoguo, Luo Xingyu, and others.
Goodness, these guys are doing incredibly well now. With just a few keystrokes on their computers, money is pouring in like a flood, and they're on the Forbes rich list every year.

"People like me and Lao Wang, who are all poor folks, may look like chairmen or CEOs, all high and mighty, but if you ask us to come up with hundreds of millions, I certainly can't."

Before Lin Sanqi could speak, Wang Muye continued:
"In the past, people always said that we should work hard to build the country and that we should all engage in real industries, saying that only in this way can the country become prosperous and strong."

As a result, now anyone with connections and influence is rushing to speculate in stocks and become a market manipulator, or getting involved in P2P lending and microloans.

Making money from money is obviously a quick way to make money, but isn't that just a game of musical chairs?

If everyone stops engaging in real industry and closes down their factories to speculate in stocks and futures, causing the economy to deviate from the real economy and become speculative, when will we be able to complete the four modernizations? When will our country truly become prosperous and strong?

This is all abnormal, and the government isn't doing anything about it.

Lin Sanqi thought to himself, how can this be managed? The market economy is all about freedom.

However, excessive freedom means the complete invasion of capital.

It is definitely not a good thing when wealth is in the hands of a few, and the state should indeed take action.

The simplest example is that if small and medium-sized enterprises cannot obtain loans and financial support, it will be difficult for the real economy to develop.

A large portion of the loans were invested in various large enterprises or went directly into the stock and real estate markets, causing trouble in the capital markets.

The question is, who are the people in China who can play the financial and capital game?

This group of people... cough cough... even Jack Ma can't beat the Celestial Dragons, who can control them?

Lin Sanqi also dabbled in finance; he converted hundreds of billions of dollars into US stocks, but he preyed on Americans.

Unlike some domestic capital, which is incompetent in foreign affairs but adept at domestic ones, only knowing how to plunder the money of its compatriots and then go abroad to pay tribute to foreigners.

The group complained as they toured the place.

Lin Sanqi almost laughed when he heard this, thinking that these two old men were probably also anxious due to the pressure of running a business, and they didn't look like big bosses at all.

So he changed the subject:
"Mr. Wang, you just mentioned that Kenfu Pharmaceutical is one of the largest suppliers of cephalosporin raw materials in China. I have a question:"

Why is there such a large difference in efficacy between domestically produced and imported versions of the same medication? Where does the problem lie?

Upon hearing this, Wang Muye and Zhou Daxin both laughed. "This matter is complicated in some ways and simple in others. If you want to hear the truth, there's a truthful explanation; if you want to hear a lie, there's a lieful explanation."

Chairman Lin, you are Lao Zhou's friend and also a colleague in our pharmaceutical industry. We can speak frankly behind closed doors.

If other customers come to ask, I will definitely tell them that the ingredients of the medicine are the same and the efficacy is no different.

How could they possibly be the same?
To give an example, the main ingredient of Moutai liquor is sorghum, and ordinary rural liquor is also made from sorghum, so the ingredients are indeed the same.

But do the two kinds of wine taste the same? Then why does one cost several thousand yuan per kilogram while the other costs only a few yuan per kilogram?
Drug prices are affected by many factors, including research and development costs, production processes, raw materials, patent protection, marketing, and so on.

The efficacy of a drug depends on the sophistication of its manufacturing process, the quality of its raw materials, and the rigor of its quality control.

Let me give you another example for Chairman Lin: the raw materials for imported cephalosporins are extracted from Penicillium bacteria, while domestically produced cephalosporins are mainly obtained by hydrolyzing cephalosporin C.

The difference between these two processes results in significant differences in the composition, leading to variations in drug concentration and purity, which directly affect the therapeutic effect.

So in the pharmaceutical industry, you get what you pay for. The cephalosporin raw materials we export to European and American countries cost tens of millions per ton. Of course, we give them good products once the money is paid.

As for the medicine we export to India, it's much cheaper. We only charge them a million per ton at most. What good medicine could India possibly want? I'll definitely give them the worst.

Whatever price you, the buyer, give me, I'll give you that kind of medicine.

We're a business, not a charity. How could we possibly forgo making money and produce medicine at a loss? What would we be after?
Even if I sell it to Indians for a million dollars a ton, I'll still make a profit. The quality of the raw materials is obviously poor, Mr. Lin, am I right?

Lin Sanqi gave a thumbs up: "President Wang is a very honest person. I think you're right."

Upon hearing that Lin Sanqi agreed with his point of view, Wang Muyi became even more enthusiastic:

"If customers only demand low prices, disregard efficacy, and ignore the survival of upstream raw material manufacturers, this is actually a huge disruption to the normal market."

Because in the end, good money will drive out bad money. Pharmaceutical factories that make good medicine but charge higher prices will not be able to get orders and will not be able to survive, so they will have to close down.

Those fourth- or fifth-rate pharmaceutical factories that were only interested in making dirty money, using the worst raw materials, the simplest processes, and even lacking sterile facilities, became the ultimate winners, conquering the market with low prices.

Besides directly affecting drug efficacy and the number of side effects, another critical factor is the enormous investment required for developing new drugs, which necessitates substantial financial support from pharmaceutical companies.

If pharmaceutical companies don't make money and don't have the funds to develop new drugs, how can the pharmaceutical industry progress? Humanity still has so many diseases that haven't been conquered; are we just going to give up? That's clearly unreasonable.

What's even more frightening is that if domestic pharmaceutical companies don't have the money to invest in research and development, while foreign pharmaceutical companies are working hard on scientific research, in the end all patented drugs and effective drugs will be in the hands of foreign companies.

"We'll suffer a huge loss then, because foreign companies can take advantage of their monopoly to arbitrarily set prices, charging tens or hundreds of thousands for a single box of medicine. They're the only ones that sell it; there are no other branches. Will you, the patient, buy it or not?"

Upon hearing this, both Lin Sanqi and Zhou Daxin were somewhat worried.

Zhou Daxin slapped his thigh, extremely unwilling, and said:
"Yes, isn't this just handing over the market for nothing? We've suffered huge losses in this area, why aren't we learning our lesson now?"

Lin Sanqi sighed heavily and said:
"It's mainly because of poverty. There's no money. The people have no money, and the country has no money either."

From a philosophical point of view, on the one hand, there is the people's ever-increasing demand for medical care, while on the other hand, there is the backward drug production and economic constraints. It's a contradiction.

So what Mr. Wang said makes sense, but each country has its own national circumstances. Developed countries have the money to buy good medicine, but what about poorer countries that can't keep up? First, solve the problem of availability, then talk about efficacy.

Upon hearing this, the two burly Shandong men paused for a moment, then could only nod with wry smiles.
"Chairman Lin is right. Although we are complaining about being poor and tired, at least we are financially independent and have no worries about food and clothing. But we have forgotten that there are still 600 million people in China with an income of less than 1,000 yuan per month."

This is forgetting one's roots.

By the way, Chairman Lin, what kind of raw materials are you planning to purchase this time? And in what quantity?
Don't worry, you're Lao Zhou's friend, so you're my friend, Lao Wang's friend. I promise I won't make a single penny; it's just to make friends.

Saying this to Southerners is useless. For Southern entrepreneurs, personal relationships are personal relationships, and business is business.

Negotiations must still be conducted, and bargaining must be done without hesitation; this is why northerners often perceive southerners as less straightforward. (End of Chapter)