21st Century Necromancer

Although he was quite dissatisfied with not being able to monopolize the venture, Executive Sato ultimately reached a cooperation agreement with Chen Yu.

Of course, this was not the outcome that Executive Sato had expected, but sharing a slice of the cake was always better than watching others eat while missing out himself, so he had to reluctantly accept it. Moreover, the interests involved in broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents were simply too significant!

To be honest, it was precisely because Chen Yu's venture was still in its infancy, and the development of broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents was only known within Japan, that the domestic pharmaceutical enterprises had a chance to share the cake.

If large international pharmaceutical enterprises became aware of this development, even Shunten-do would probably only be able to cry wolf, right?

It was because he understood this reality that, although Executive Sato was unhappy about having to share profits with the other two companies, he swallowed his displeasure. Aside from fighting for a larger share for Shunten-do, he ultimately accepted such a distribution of benefits.

Professor Kube, for his part, was very understanding of this outcome and was even pleased that Chen Yu had found other pharmaceutical companies to compete with Shunten-do. After all, if such large benefits were completely monopolized by Shunten-do, it would not affect him, but it would not be good for Chen Yu. A monopoly could very well lead to bullying the market.

If there were any dissatisfaction, it would only be that Chen Yu had accepted Kazama Pharmaceuticals, which had come into the picture thanks to Yamamoto Hisae's connections. However, this was not a big issue, or rather, having three companies in the competition was much better than having just two in a showdown.

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Having outsourced the first phase of the clinical trials for the new drug to three pharmaceutical companies, Chen Yu's workload was suddenly much lighter. Although it was only the first phase of clinical trials, it would still take at least 6-9 months to obtain preliminary results, and completing the entire phase would take a full year.

After all, given that it was a broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug, this type of widely applicable medication required gathering more experimental samples for comparison, which took more time compared to typical drug development, and the cost was also higher.

In fact, according to statistics from authoritative agencies, it typically costs a pharmaceutical company an average of 1.395 billion US Dollars in development funds to successfully bring a new drug to market. Accounting for a nominal interest rate (cost of capital) of 12-14%, the cost to offset the capital time and opportunity costs comes out to 2.558 billion US Dollars for developing a new drug.

Of course, these figures represent averages. If out of every ten compounds developed, only one is successful, the development costs of the other nine are also factored into the cost of the successful one.

In the actual development process, depending on the disease targeted by the drug and the difficulty of the drug's development, the funds required can vary. Most of the funding is concentrated on clinical trials, especially the costly Phase III clinical trials, while preclinical development costs are relatively minor in comparison.

However, for Chen Yu's research, the preclinical development was already completed, and even practical clinical application -- if one disregarded Inomata Naoki's case, which was not officially sanctioned for clinical trials and was considered a violation -- could still be counted as a successful clinical application.

This resulted in the biggest issue Chen Yu now faced in his research: clinical trials not only needed a large number of people to conduct the experiments, but also required substantial investment in research and development funds.

Although the University of Tokyo Medical School and Eastern University Affiliated Hospital were both not short on funds and were willing to invest sufficiently in Chen Yu's research project, it was undoubtedly a more cost-effective and efficient strategy to outsource the clinical trials to pharmaceutical companies rather than pouring the hospital and university's research funds into them.

"Professor, since you plan to outsource the clinical trials to pharmaceutical companies, should we continue with the animal experiments?" Dr. Higashiyama, who had returned to work after selecting a wedding dress with his fiancée, learned that Chen Yu had outsourced the clinical trials and asked him what to do next.

Hearing Dr. Higashiyama's question, Chen Yu nodded and addressed not only him but also the others in the laboratory, "Continue with the animal experiments. Although we have outsourced the clinical trials, we still need to proceed with our own experiments here. We can't rely completely on others.

Everything will be conducted according to the original research plan, moving on to the first phase of clinical trials after completing the animal experiments."

"Yes, Professor," the others in the laboratory immediately responded in unison.

After answering Dr. Higashiyama's query and watching him return to work, Chen Yu then turned to Kyuuzai Ryousen beside him, "Ryosen-kun, how are things proceeding on your father's end?"

"Father has already had the Kyuuzai Pharmaceuticals R&D team prepared, ready to start the clinical trials at any moment. The information you asked me to deliver to him has also reached his hands," replied Kyuuzai Ryousen respectfully.

As a so-called 'insider,' Ryousen knew very well that to gain Chen Yu's favor, he had to diligently carry out his assignments and execute Chen Yu's instructions to the best of his ability.

"Good, tell your father to get started. Kazama Pharmaceuticals and Shunten-do are stronger than Kyuuzai Pharmaceuticals, so their progress will likely not be slow. Make sure he keeps a close eye on it. As for the information in that document, let him know there's no rush," Chen Yu said with satisfaction, very pleased with Ryousen's efficiency and attitude.

The documentation that Chen Yu had given to Kyuuzai Ryousen to pass on to his father contained data for another pharmaceutical development.

If one hasn't forgotten the previous events, when Chen Yu treated Inomata Naoki, in addition to the cancer-suppressing drug, he also developed a Healing Potion to restore Inomata Naoki's body activity. All attention had been drawn to the broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents used by Chen Yu, causing many to overlook the Healing Potion that could restore body vitality.

Of course, Chen Yu had no intention of kindly reminding others that he had another therapeutic drug which was comparable to the broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents in his hands. Additionally, he did not plan to sell this Healing Potion directly to the public but instead handed it over to Ryousen's father for production and sales within the Transcendent community.

The idea was to develop a weaker version for sale to the general public later on.

As for the concern that Kyuuzai Go might embezzle the Potion formula... Chen Yu was not worried about that. After all, it was just a "Universal Minor Healing Potion for the Undead," a basic formula from the Multiverse Universal Necromancy Spell Compendium – there were many other formulas with better effects, and an entire series dedicated to Healing Potions.

Moreover, now that Kyuuzai Ryousen had taken up the heritage of the Crow Feather Mage taught by Chen Yu, in the event of any mishap, it would be up to Kyuuzai Ryousen, the second son, to "inherit" Kyuuzai Pharmaceuticals.Nôv(el)B\\jnn