Rebirth 09: Synthetic Male God

Chapter 945 Market-oriented Technology

The 31st Summer Olympic Games ended with the passionate samba dance.

This city, which is not good but still enthusiastic, has finally completed its Olympic mission.

The most striking thing in the whole process was the sudden rise of the red force.

The Chinese delegation returned home with a historic score of 68 gold, 55 silver and 59 bronze medals.

This is the best result in the history of the Chinese delegation and also the best medal result for a single country in the modern Olympic Games.

What is the modern Olympic Games? It refers to the anti-doping system.

Those weird things from the past don’t count anymore.

Many people say that this is the arrival of national fortune, and that achievements can be made in all aspects. Others say that this is the appearance of Master Zhou, and whichever field he looks at will bear fruit.

And when it comes to the end, when Lingshu Bio and the State Sports Administration jointly build the "International Sports Health Center", it seems to be witnessing the gradual transfer of the discourse power in the sports world from the West to the East.

Well, if you really can't get promotion for some individual projects, forget it. No one can be good at everything.

Of all the gold medals, the most talked-about one was probably the one won by veteran Liu Xiang, who, at the age of 33, won the Olympic 110-meter hurdles championship for the second time in obscurity.

It has been 12 years since China last won the gold medal at the Athens Olympics.

This move sparked a lot of discussion. Regardless of how much sincerity there was in it, many people began to reflect on whether they were too harsh back then. "Owe Liu Xiang an apology" became one of the hot topics on the Internet.

However, in the final, Liu Xiang, who had completed his spiritual cleansing, did not care much. The only time he spoke publicly, he only said: "Thank you for your concern. There is no need to apologize to me. In fact, I am also an ordinary person. I just may have run faster before."

The veteran finally finished this long race and started a new journey in life.

Since he had already "retired" once, Liu Xiang did not make any retirement announcement. After silently accepting everyone's blessings and support, Liu Xiang kept a low profile and seldom appeared in public during his post-Olympic schedule.

He would rather savor this victory quietly.

The second unexpected event during the Olympics was the video press conference of "Lingshu Biological".

Although similar models are not uncommon in recent years, such as mobile phones and electronic products.

However, Master Zhou’s personal appearance on the show still brought the spread of the message to its peak.

Sports people and sports fans may focus most of their attention on the magical effects of "electrode acupuncture technology", but another group of people have a more complicated and greedy look.

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"Insider information: the other party's special medicine is planned to be included in the medical insurance system. The price is about 10 yuan, and individuals will bear % of the cost."

"Ten thousand dollars? That cheap?"

"Ten thousand RMB is about 1300 USD, and each person has to pay 130 USD."

In Pfizer's conference room, a group of executives were silenced.

Not to mention personal liability, even the total price with insurance is $1300, which is far from the mark.

For them, this price is so high that the doctor will just look at you and turn a blind eye, otherwise the money is not enough.

"I don't understand. What about his R&D expenses? What about his profits?"

"Obviously he may not have much profit, but he also has no 'research and development costs'. After all, his name is 'Rui Zhou'."

According to their understanding, similar special-effect drugs should directly investigate the average asset capacity of Alzheimer's patients.

Count from the top to the bottom and draw a line at a certain position.

Then the sale price is based on how much money the patient has.

And how can the disease be cured in one go? The patient has to take the medicine for a long time, and it would be best if it has some addictive property so that the patient can continue taking the medicine even after the disease is cured.

If you have no money, you can just wait to die. We won’t force you. It’s a market economy. Our R&D costs are very high, and we have to maintain the R&D enthusiasm of pharmaceutical companies.

They are not worried about Master Zhou developing this drug because they can wait for the publication of their pathological research on Alzheimer's and increase their own investment in the hope of obtaining their own special medicine.

At the same time, during this period of time, it can also prevent the other party from invading its own market.

But if you sell it for $270, that would disrupt the market! It would be overcapacity! It would damage R&D enthusiasm!

This will make all pharmaceutical companies' past investments in Alzheimer's disease go to waste.

This could be a cumulative investment of nearly 100 billion yuan, lasting for decades.

"The only good news is that according to internal information, the other party seems to attach great importance to the 'confidentiality' of the special medicine. The finished drug will not be sold to the outside world. It will only be used for clinical treatment in large hospitals in China, and each one needs strict approval and supervision to prevent the drug from flowing overseas."

"What good news is this?"

“It means he has no intention to invade the overseas market, and it is said that the treatment of foreigners is another expense.”

"Don't you think those who are dying of terminal illnesses will buy a plane ticket to China? And can it be more expensive than ours?"

This is a very reasonable and powerful statement.

"Everyone, we can also change our thinking, such as cooperation. Our shareholders and many important people behind them have expressed the hope that we can cooperate with Lingshu Biology as soon as possible. As you know, everyone is equal in the face of disease. Moreover, they seem to have some degree of 'life extension' technology."

"I don't believe there are people in this world who are not interested in money. The overseas market share is much larger than that in China. We can cooperate with each other."

To be honest, they are more interested in the word "life extension" than specific diseases such as "Alzheimer's disease". The demand in this area is much greater than that of special medicines, and it can attract the world's wealthy people.

They will have the opportunity to hold the most terrifying power in the world in their own hands.

Think about it, what powerful people would pay to live one or two more years, let alone ten years.

Large pharmaceutical companies and the forces behind them are already wealthy enough to rival a country, and they don’t mind having more power.

As long as this technology is not for sale.
Then everything those people own will become “sellable.”

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"Our idea is that the so-called life extension is better operated commercially, and it should even be within a reasonable range. It should be more expensive and have a smaller application range."

Another meeting was also held in Lingshu Bio's office in Building C of the Smart Building.

Leaders including Zhou Rui, Gan Yuan, Marcus, and some project leaders, as well as some professors from Zhongshan Hospital and Fudan University School of Medicine, were also invited to serve as consultants.

The speaker was a representative sent by the Human Resources and Social Security Bureau.

They are responsible for medical insurance and social security.

The visitor was a director in his fifties named Bi Jian, who was accompanied by many subordinates.

In the first half of the meeting, the two sides mainly discussed the specific drugs for Alzheimer's disease. Both sides reached full consensus on this topic and the efficiency was very high.

Like "Agriculture God", without state support, the technology still exists, but with state support, the speed and breadth of promotion are two different things.

Correspondingly, although Lingshu Bio's selling price is low, the total volume has increased and the overall profit is still considerable.

A few months ago, Zhou Rui told his driver Lao Wang that Alzheimer's specific drugs would be included in medical insurance as much as possible to provide relatively cheap treatment options for more than 10 million patients across the country.

It can't be said that he is fulfilling his promise, he is just acting according to the original plan.

But in the second half, the topic of "longevity" is somewhat difficult to discuss.

After half a month of treatment, the treatment of Mr. Yuan and Mr. Sun is nearing completion.

After systematic treatment, both of their physical indicators, especially the condition of their muscles, bones, and internal organs, have undergone qualitative changes.

If estimated in an imprecise way, without any "accidents" or "diseases", the expected remaining life expectancy is at least increased by 10 years.

So after discussing the "specific drug for Alzheimer's disease", Zhou Rui also brought up this topic and wanted to have a preliminary discussion on it.

But the progress was not smooth.

Zhou Rui remained calm and nodded, saying, "We don't know much about this part. Please tell us more about it."

Bi Jian was well prepared. He flipped through the information at hand and said:

"You may find this cold, but the operation of society cannot focus on individuals, but on the whole, or even on numbers."

"Our country's life expectancy is 76.5, and this is the average. The urban population has already reached 84.1, which is on par with developed countries. As the number of newborns decreases, aging will become more and more serious in the future."

“全国人均退休年龄在53岁，城市人口为55岁，比发达国家还要早出5-7年，也就是说退休后寿命在25-30年之间.”

At this time, someone questioned: "The legal retirement age is 55 and 60, how come the average retirement age is so young?"

Bi Jiandao: "60 and 55 are the time for pensions to be paid, not the time to stop paying social security. The limit is only 15 years. Moreover, the statutory retirement age only applies to state-owned enterprises and civil servants. Private enterprises rarely support people to this age."

"For example, private enterprises, especially the majority of small and medium-sized enterprises, basically recruit the best workers. The average age of employees rarely exceeds 35 years old. They just keep rotating new forces. So where do these repeatedly rotated people finally retire?"

"After continuous rotation, high-level talents may start their own businesses or take the civil service exam, while low-level talents fall into the low-end labor market, such as security guards. For them, after 15 years, they have already terminated their social security and waited for the money to be paid. It is a common practice for them to find another job."

"From a social perspective, retirement does not mean losing the labor force, but from the perspective of social security and medical insurance, retirement means that public finances for a certain person have become 'outgoing but not in.'"

Another person said: "Are you trying to say that the longer people live after retirement, the greater the social pressure will be?"

Bi Jian shook his head: "How can you say that? It should be understood as: limited resources cannot meet universal needs."

"If your company's so-called 'life extension' technology is to be widely popularized, then the medical system may be overwhelmed. No matter how many resources you release, they will be snatched up, and then many problems of interest exchange and privilege exchange will arise."

"Secondly, the medical insurance system cannot afford the cost of 'universal' life extension. It's not the treatment itself, but the stability of social security and medical insurance. One dollar of treatment cost may be backed by 10 or 100 yuan of social expenditure."

It is the young people who pay for medical insurance and social security.

But most of the money is spent by the elderly.

This is not quite the same as a "terminal illness" because old age is not a terminal illness.

"So my suggestion is that the specific drug for Alzheimer's disease is easy to talk about. Both sides should work together to bring hope to more patients. Your company has kept the cost so low. On behalf of the social security system, I want to thank you."

"But 'life extension technology' should not be introduced into the public medical system. Your company can commercialize it on its own as a profitable project, just like European and American pharmaceutical companies, using market-based methods to screen customers and set prices freely."

On the Lingshu Biological side, some young people were speechless.

As an enterprise, we are trying to find ways to contribute to society.

But the officials advised them to be selfish? This is totally the opposite of what Tian Gang did!

What is market-based customer screening?
Isn’t it just that whoever has more money can “live longer”?

(End of this chapter)