After being fired, I became the light of medicine

Chapter 123 Old acquaintances gather at the summit! (Subscribe)

Just like the meeting schedule list provided by the organizer, the morning meeting was led by three doctors from different hospitals for academic sharing.

The first speaker was Professor Lee Ming Jen from the National Hospital of Singapore, who shared precautions and case studies on kidney transplantation in children under 10 years old.

The second and third speakers were doctors from Peking University Medical School and the Royal Melbourne Hospital, Australia, respectively. They shared how to use immunotherapy to delay chronic renal failure and how to reverse early renal failure.

Zhang Yang had some difficulty listening, especially the professional terms which were difficult to understand at first. But with the help of the PPT shared by the doctors, he was able to understand about 50% of it.

It must be said that the doctors who were invited to attend are all top-notch in the industry with very high quality. Except for the time when Zhang Yang entered the venue and attracted everyone's attention at the beginning, almost no one paid attention to him throughout the morning.

Zhang Yang also enjoyed it.

Soon, the morning doctor sharing session ended. After a short break after lunch, the new drug sharing session began at two o'clock in the afternoon.

Compared with doctors sharing cases in the morning, major pharmaceutical companies had a much higher degree of freedom in sharing new drugs in the afternoon.

All invited pharmaceutical companies can take turns to come on stage to briefly introduce their achievements in kidney disease drug research and development in the past two years, whether they are kidney disease drugs that are in Phase I or Phase II clinical trials, or some kidney disease drugs that have been on the market but have not been fully recognized by the market. They can come on stage to recommend and promote them.

After all, strictly speaking, most of the funding for the "Kidney Disease Summit" held every two years comes from sponsorship from major pharmaceutical companies.

The doctors were also happy to cooperate.

Firstly, everyone’s energy is limited. Doctors are usually busy with surgeries and outpatient clinics, and have no time to keep an eye on any new drugs or special medicines in the pharmaceutical field.
In addition, dozens of new kidney disease drugs are approved worldwide every year, and it is impossible for doctors to understand them one by one in detail, and they do not have that much energy.

Being able to listen to first-line drug information in such a high-level forum is also the most efficient and labor-saving way for them to obtain information.

and,

Although every pharmaceutical company can go on stage to promote new drugs, for most pharmaceutical companies it is considered very efficient if they can develop a good new drug within five years.

Therefore, at each summit, only a few pharmaceutical companies actually go on stage to promote their new drugs.

At 1:40, Zhang Yang returned to his seat from the lounge. At this time, the seats for pharmaceutical company representatives on the right side of the conference hall were now nearly two-thirds full compared to the empty seats in the morning.

Qingshan Pharmaceutical was in the last row. In the morning, he noticed that the first row of seats were reserved for international pharmaceutical companies such as Novartis, Roche, and GlaxoSmithKline.
The second and third rows are reserved for companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), where Fang Hanliang works, which have a certain drug influence in the field of kidney disease.

Zhang Yang didn't care. Just as he was quietly waiting for the sharing session to begin, a familiar voice suddenly sounded from behind him.

"Zhang, it's you? You came here in person?"

Before Zhang Yang could react, a familiar yet slightly blurry figure appeared before him.

It's Lucas from Skarsgård.

When GlaxoSmithKline introduced "ITG human myelopoietin" before, it was he who negotiated the contract with Zhang Yang.

Zhang Yang also had a very good impression of Lucas. Lucas was not as cunning as some Western capitalists. On the contrary, he seemed very sincere and was considered a good person.

Then he stood up and said with a smile:
"Mr. Lucas, long time no see."

"This is the first time we have been invited to such a summit, so I came here in person. I didn't expect to meet you. What about you? Did your company send you here to participate?"

"um, yes."

Lucas was surprised and happy to see Zhang Yang. He smiled and said:
"I'm the head of our company's Asia region. I happened to be in China recently, so I came to participate."

"I didn't expect to run into you."

"Haha."

After saying that, he exchanged a few more words with Zhang Yang. Seeing that the meeting at 2pm was about to begin, he said goodbye and prepared to walk to his seat in the first row.

But at this moment, another voice suddenly sounded in my ears.

"open!"

"Oh my God! You're here too!"

Zhang Yang was stunned for a moment, then an indescribable smile appeared on his face. He didn't like this person very much, but his voice was too familiar.

"Mr. Friedman...we meet again."

Friedman stood in front of Zhang Yang and gave him a big hug.

"Zhang, why didn't you tell me that you were coming to attend this summit in person? If you had told me you were coming, I would have definitely come here in the morning."

Zhang Yang pushed Friedman's hug away without leaving any trace, and had to explain again:

“This is the first time we have been invited to this summit, so we came here in person.”

"Oh."

Friedman was all smiles:

“Welcome to join the kidney disease drug development club.”

But as soon as he finished speaking, he suddenly looked at Zhang Yang in surprise and expectation:

"Zhang, you're not going to tell me that you're also planning to enter the field of kidney disease and develop kidney disease drugs, right?"

Zhang Yang did not deny it. He hesitated for two seconds and nodded:
“We do have ideas in that regard.”

"Really?"

A gleam of light suddenly flashed in Friedman's eyes, and his expression when he looked at Zhang Yang instantly became a little excited!
At this moment, on the main booth in front, a host holding a microphone began to walk towards the center of the stage.

Friedman knew that the afternoon meeting was about to begin. He looked at the name tag of his seat in the first row, then looked at the seat next to Zhang Yang. He quickly ran to the first row, picked up the name tag with his name and company printed on it, and returned to Zhang Yang.

"Zhang, I see there's no one around you, is it okay for me to sit next to you?"

Zhang Yang was stunned for a moment, and even Lucas, the president of GlaxoSmithKline Asia, was stunned.

He looked at Friedman in surprise, but soon realized...

He knew that Novartis' performance had skyrocketed in the past six months due to the introduction of Tsingshan Pharmaceutical's "LivClearX". The entire company made a lot of money and even the stock price rose by 10%!

Just now, Zhang Yang admitted that he wanted to enter the field of kidney disease drug research...

but……

Zhang Yang should just be talking briefly. Is Friedman really that attentive? Is he trying to curry favor with someone in kidney medicine again?
He shook his head with some disdain, and seeing the host below starting his afternoon opening remarks, he no longer hesitated, and hurried to the first row to pick up his and GlaxoSmithKline's company name signs, and then returned to the last row.

"Zhang, I see there's no one here. Is it okay for me to sit on your right?"

Zhang Yang looked at Friedman from Novartis and Lucas from GlaxoSmithKline sitting next to him, feeling a bit amused.
The two of them running up and down in amazement also attracted the attention of more than a dozen other pharmaceutical company representatives present, and everyone turned around.

When he saw Friedman and Lucas sitting in the last row, respectively accompanying the president of Qingshan Pharmaceutical, his eyes widened!
You know, the organizer arranged for Friedman and Lucas to sit in the center of the first row. Why did they give up the center seat and sit in the last row next to the boss of Qingshan Pharmaceutical? !

What's the situation?
Fortunately, although everyone was surprised, after the host’s opening remarks, the afternoon’s new drug sharing session by pharmaceutical companies officially began.

Without waiting for the host to ask, a representative from a pharmaceutical company was already eager to try.

As a blond white man walked onto the stage, Friedman took the lead in introducing him:

"Zhang, this is Roche's vice president of Asia business. They are currently promoting an improved drug, empagliflozin, a GLT-2 inhibitor used to control diabetic nephropathy." Zhang Yang nodded slightly, looking towards the center of the booth, and then heard a clear voice coming from the booth.

"Good afternoon, doctors. I'm Richardson from Roche. Three months ago, the US FDA expanded the indications of our newly improved 'Empagliflozin'."

"As everyone knows, our 'Empagliflozin' was previously mainly used to treat type 2 diabetes. However, in recent years, after a large number of clinical uses and our continuous improvement of drug ingredients, the latest test results have found that the improved 'Empagliflozin' also has an excellent therapeutic effect on kidney disease caused by diabetes..."

"Next, I will show you a set of clinical trial data..."

Zhang Yang's gaze then fell on the screen at the back of the conference room.

In fact, there are three main types of kidney disease.

The first type is hereditary kidney disease, which is related to genes and has fewer patients.

The second type is primary kidney disease, mainly glomerulonephritis, nephrotic syndrome, IGA nephropathy, etc. This primary kidney disease is mainly caused by viral (bacterial) infection, bad living habits or long-term use of drugs that damage the kidneys.

Primary kidney disease has the highest incidence rate among all kidney diseases, and most of them occur in young people.

The third type is secondary kidney disease.

Secondary kidney disease is mainly caused by diabetes and hypertension. This type of kidney disease is more difficult to treat, and it can even be said that there is almost no good way to treat it.

For example, for kidney disease caused by diabetes, you can only control blood sugar and take some drugs to protect the kidneys, such as Jinshuibao, Bailing Capsules, etc.

Compared with primary kidney disease, secondary kidney disease mainly occurs in older people with certain underlying diseases.

Zhang Yang listened silently to the Roche medical representative on the stage introducing the drug data.

It has to be said that this improved "Empagliflozin" is indeed effective. According to clinical data released by Roche, if "Empagliflozin" is taken continuously during stage II kidney disease, there is a 70% probability that it will not develop into stage V kidney disease, that is, it will not develop into uremia.

Of course, if you start taking it when you have stage three or stage four kidney disease, the effect will naturally be compromised.

Even so, the therapeutic effect of empagliflozin can be said to bring hope to countless patients with diabetes-induced kidney disease.

Empagliflozin also inspired Zhang Yang.

Empagliflozin is a drug that was approved by the FDA and marketed in 2014. After a decade of development and improvement, it has evolved from an initial glucose-lowering drug for the treatment of diabetes to a drug that can now treat diabetic nephropathy. This shows that the path of continuous drug improvement is feasible.

While he was thinking, he continued to listen to the introduction on the stage. About ten minutes later, when the speech fell, Zhang Yang also applauded from the bottom of his heart.

Not only Zhang Yang, many top doctors attending the conference also showed great interest in the latest "Empagliflozin". After the introduction, several doctors asked detailed questions for about seven or eight minutes, which completely ended the introduction of "Empagliflozin".

Soon, the second drug to come on stage was a drug for treating primary kidney disease - IGA nephropathy.

Primary kidney disease means that there is a problem with the kidneys themselves.

For example, sitting for long periods of time, staying up late, holding urine, urinary tract infections and even colds may cause kidney damage. It may not be a problem once or twice, but if it happens for a long time it can easily cause nephritis and cause irreparable damage to the kidneys.

Nephritis, or kidney disease, is actually a problem with the glomeruli.

There are 100 million glomeruli in each kidney of the human body, and 200 million glomeruli in two kidneys.

Normally, when the kidneys are working, only 100 million glomeruli will be mobilized to filter toxins and metabolites from the human body, and the remaining kidney will be in a resting state.

This working state allows the kidneys to get sufficient rest, which is why the human body only needs one kidney to maintain life.

However, unlike liver tissue, which can regenerate, glomeruli cannot regenerate once they are used up or damaged.

Therefore,
Once protein in urine is detected, it means that the glomeruli begin to be damaged. This stage is the process of reducing the number of glomeruli from 200 million to 100 million.

This is called stage 1 kidney disease, which is the period when urine protein first appears.

At this stage, if you quickly adjust your lifestyle habits, reduce staying up late and smoking, and take hormone (anti-inflammatory) drugs appropriately, there is a high probability that you can control the continued damage to the glomeruli.

If you do not pay attention to the damage to the glomeruli in the first stage of kidney disease, once the number of glomeruli drops to 100 million, the human body will only show mild symptoms, and even the blood indicators will still be normal.

Although the human body relies on 100 million glomeruli to work, due to the kidney's compensatory mechanism, the remaining glomeruli will increase the working pressure, that is, increase the filtration flow rate, thereby making up for the lack of quantity.

Until the number of glomeruli damaged falls below 80, the working limit of the glomerulus has been exceeded. At this time, the glomerular filtration rate begins to fall below normal values ​​and enters the second stage of kidney disease.

and so.

The core principle of kidney disease is to preserve the glomerulus,

How to prevent continued damage to the glomeruli or how to regenerate the glomeruli has become the key logic for major pharmaceutical companies to develop kidney disease drugs.

The logic behind the new drug for treating IGA nephropathy is the same. It mainly uses drugs to reduce inflammation of the glomeruli, thereby preventing glomerular sclerosis and death, and achieving the goal of preserving more glomeruli.

The logic here is actually the same as that of using "hepatocyte activators" to treat cirrhosis.

Zhang Yang was also quite inspired by what he heard, and then another pharmaceutical company came on stage to introduce its new drug.

He listened with great interest. Friedman and Lucas on his left and right did not stop either. They both knew that Zhang Yang was not very familiar with the pharmaceutical companies and drugs participating in the conference, so while he was speaking on the stage, they kept supplementing Zhang Yang from the audience, which gave Zhang Yang a deeper understanding of these drugs.

About an hour later, four pharmaceutical companies finished promoting their own drugs. Seeing that the booth was empty, Zhang Yang was also considering whether he should go up and briefly introduce his "Kidney Toxin Clearing Dialysis Replacement Injection".

Just as he was about to stand up, a man with short blond hair sitting in the second row suddenly stood up and walked towards the booth.

Zhang Yang had no choice but to sit down. He saw that the man who stood up before him was named Hans, who was from Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim (BI), the kidney disease company where Dr. Fang Hanliang currently works.

"Zhang, this is Hans from BI... But it's strange, have they developed a new drug?"

"I heard before that it will take some time."

The person speaking is Lucas on the right. GlaxoSmithKline is located in the UK and is obviously more familiar with German companies, which are also part of the EU.

He did not notice Zhang Yang's actions, but asked curiously.

Zhang Yang did not answer. He looked over and saw Hans walking towards the center of the booth. He smiled and revealed two big dimples.
A deep and proud voice came at the same time.

“Dear doctors from the world’s top hospitals and colleagues from top pharmaceutical companies.”

"What our BI company brings to you today is a reagent that is under development and has not yet been put into clinical trials."

"To be precise, this is a historic breakthrough drug that has the potential to significantly increase the toxin filtration rate of dialysis patients, thereby improving the quality of life and survival time of dialysis patients."

Zhang Yang was stunned.

BI's new drug is also for dialysis?

What a coincidence, we met!

……

PS: I was really touched when I woke up early in the morning and saw so many friends voting for the monthly ticket. It turns out that so many readers like this book!

So!

All I can do is write and write!
The plot this time is definitely different from the previous ones. It is not just a simple pretense, don't worry!

There will be more later! Please give me a monthly ticket!
(End of this chapter)