American Medicine God: Starting by Inheriting a Pharmaceutical Company and Selling Medicine

On Monday morning, David Rossi sat across from the desk in the pharmaceutical company's office.

He looked ten years older after just one weekend.

The once crisp FDA uniform now hangs loosely on his body, his tie is crooked, and his eyes are puffy and bluish.

He was like a soulless zombie, staring blankly at the black briefcase on the table.

The suitcase was open.

Inside, bundles of green Franklin were neatly stacked. Twenty-dollar, fifty-dollar, and one-hundred-dollar bills were mixed together, clearly "old money" that had been carefully processed; there were no consecutive serial numbers, and no bank seals.

"Two hundred thousand." Victor sat in the boss's chair, his back to the floor-to-ceiling window. The morning light gilded his silhouette, making him look both holy and evil.

"This is your ex-wife's alimony for the next five years, plus a trust fund for your two children until they graduate from college." Victor gently closed the box with a crisp "click," as if a bullet had been fired into Rossi's heart.

Rossi trembled. His Adam's apple bobbed up and down.

"I...I can't! This is bribery. This is a serious crime."

“No, David,” Victor leaned forward, placing his hands crossed on the table. “This isn’t a bribe. This is a consulting fee.”

He took a thick document out of the drawer and pushed it in front of Rossi.

"Vought Pharma," Victor pointed to the gold-embossed logo on the document cover. "It's an offshore company that just registered in Delaware. I'm the sole shareholder, and you're the company's 'Chief Compliance Counsel.' This $200,000 is your advance salary for the next five years. It's completely legal, even taxable, and of course, we'll handle the tax issues for you."

Rossi looked at the unfamiliar company name and felt like she was standing on the edge of a cliff.

"What do you want me to do?" he asked.

"It's very simple."

"I need you to sign today's EIR report (Factory Inspection Report). The conclusion is: NAI (No Action Indicated)."

"But that's impossible!" Rossi looked up abruptly, his professional instincts kicking in for a final struggle. "Your approval records are a complete mess! Your raw material purchase orders and outputs don't match at all! Any inspector with eyes can see you've been reselling half of the purple water on the black market! If I sign off on NAI, I'll go to jail if anything goes wrong!"

"Who said anything would happen?"

Victor walked up behind Rossi and gently placed his hands on his shoulders. Rossi's body stiffened instantly.

“Look, David. The truth doesn’t matter, what matters is what’s written on paper.” Victor leaned down and whispered in his ear, “Do you think the big shots at the FDA don’t know the shady stuff in this industry? They only care that no one dies and the paperwork is compliant. As long as your report looks good, no one will bother to audit a small pharmaceutical company in New Jersey.”

"Moreover," Victor changed the subject, "the purple water is just the beginning. You could even say it's just a stepping stone."

He walked back to the other side of the table and pulled a drawing from the pile of documents. It was a complex chemical formula.

Although Rossi was not a chemist, he recognized the famous benzodiazepine structure.

"This is..." Rossi's eyes widened.

"Diazepam," Victor said with a smile, uttering the name that drives countless American housewives crazy, "or by its brand name—Valium."

Rossi gasped, "Are you crazy? This is Roche's cash cow! Their patents still exist..."

“It expires in six months,” Victor interrupted him. “In six months, the patent cliff will appear. At that point, any qualified pharmaceutical company can produce generic versions. However, the FDA approval process typically takes two years. Unless…”

"Unless someone can exploit the rules of 'Paper NDA' (New Drug Application) to expedite the approval process," Rossi instinctively chimed in. He knew this all too well. Although the Hatch-Waxman Act (Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act) hadn't been enacted yet, the FDA already had a simplified application process based on literature data, specifically designed for companies with "insider connections."

"Bingo." Victor snapped his fingers. "Walter Pharmaceuticals will be the first company in the US to get approval for a generic version of Valium. We'll sweep the market at one-tenth the price of the original. Just think, David, how much profit that will be? Compared to that, Purple Water's business is like a child's lemonade stand."

Rossi fell silent.

As a senior investigator at the FDA, he knew the ins and outs better than anyone. If Victor could actually launch a generic version of the drug on the very first day the patent expired, it would be a multi-billion dollar financial feast.

And he will be the gatekeeper of this grand feast.

"What do you need me to do?" This time, there was no fear in Rossi's tone, only a calm acceptance of her fate.

"I want you to use your connections at FDA headquarters to help Waterpharm jump the queue," Victor said. "I know the weaknesses of everyone in charge of each approval process. Some are short of money, some are womanizers, and some want promotions. You're the one who connects them."

Rossi looked at the briefcase full of cash, then at the molecular formula.

He remembered his ex-wife's mocking gaze, the debt collector's calls, and the countless lonely nights he spent in that cramped apartment.

Morality? Justice?

That's a luxury reserved for those who have enough to eat. When it comes to survival, everything is tradable.

Rossi reached out and slowly, firmly pulled the suitcase in front of her.

"Deal," he said.

Victor smiled. It was the smile of a victor, but he didn't stop.

"One more thing, David," Victor handed him a pen, "get today's EIR signed first. We have to take it one step at a time."

Rossi took the pen. It was a Montblanc Meisterstück, its barrel heavy and cold.

He opened the medical report.

In the "Conclusion" section, he heavily checked "NAI".

Then, at the signature section, he signed "David Rossi".

……

Half an hour later, Rossi left with his suitcase. Although his back was still somewhat hunched, his steps were much lighter than when he arrived. It was the ease of shedding his moral burden.

Only Victor and Saul Goodman, who had been standing in the shadows, remained in the office.

"Brilliant." Thor emerged from the shadows, clapping. "That was textbook 'soul harvesting.' Boss, your speech about 'tranquilizers' just now was really getting me all fired up. Are we really going to make generic versions?"

“Of course.” Victor walked to the window, watching Rossi get into his Ford downstairs. “Purple Water is, after all, a gray market business, not something that can be openly discussed. To truly become the rulers of the country, we need legitimate business. Huge, legitimate business.”

"But..." Thor hesitated, "Paper NDA has a very high barrier to entry. Even with Rossi's help, we still need real data. Our lab..."

"Don't worry about that, I'll handle it!" Victor turned around, his eyes gleaming with fanaticism. "I guarantee we can produce a tranquilizer even purer than Roche's. As for the data? That's your job, Saul. I want you to package Water Pharmaceuticals as a subsidiary of a fifty-year-old European pharmaceutical company. Background information, research papers, clinical data... you know how to do it."

Saul grinned, revealing a set of white teeth: "Falsifying history? That's my forte. As long as the money's right, I can prove that Washington's dentures were all made by us."

Victor nodded.

He glanced at the EIR report on the table. That thin sheet of paper was not only Corleone Pharmaceuticals' talisman, but also his ticket to that glamorous "high society".

"Notify Fat Tony," Victor said coldly. "Now that the compliance issue is resolved, get the factory running at full capacity. Ship all the backlogged orders. We need to turn all of New Jersey purple before Christmas."

"And also," Victor paused, "send a bouquet of flowers to Rossi's ex-wife. Anonymously. The card should read: 'Thank you for your greed, which made a great man.'"

Thor paused for a moment, then burst into laughter.

"You're a devil, boss."

"No, Thor."

"I am the God of Medicine."