Chapter 518: Drug Pricing

Chapter 518: Chapter 510: Drug Pricing

Owen Warren never would have imagined that this little prodigy would actually manage to complete the drug’s development in just three short months.

Once the paperwork was complete, it could be put into production.

Chloe Sinclair was also very pleased.

“This is all thanks to the team.”

She hadn’t been deeply involved herself; most of it was the team’s own work. The experiment was completed in a little over three months, all thanks to the team working day and night.

But Owen Warren shook his head. “If it weren’t for the direction you constantly provided, who knows how many wrong turns our team would have taken to get this done.”

Although Chloe Sinclair wasn’t heavily involved, she stepped in at every critical juncture, making sure they never took a single wrong turn.

“It’s just… when this gets out to the media, it’s probably going to cause a stir. We should be prepared to issue a response.”

Chloe Sinclair nodded.

‘She could already imagine the storm this would kick up online.’

Seeing that Chloe Sinclair wasn’t worried, Owen Warren felt a sense of relief.

Suddenly, a thought occurred to him. Owen Warren asked, “By the way, what price are you planning to set for the drug?”

Chloe Sinclair thought for a moment before asking, “How many patients in the world can afford Gleevec?”

Owen Warren was stunned, not expecting her to ask that.

He thought for a moment. “A box of Gleevec costs over twenty thousand. Not many people earn more than twenty-five thousand a month, let alone those from ordinary families.”

A single box of Gleevec could practically bankrupt a family.

Owen Warren said, “I knew someone online with leukemia. Their family spent two million, but they still passed away in the end.”

With Gleevec, it was often a case of having the money but not being able to find the medicine. Getting your hands on a single box was no easy feat.

Leukemia bankrupted ninety-nine percent of the families it touched.

A few years ago, an author wrote a story about a middle schooler who was diagnosed with acute leukemia. The parents were simple, honest teachers in the countryside and didn’t earn much.

But the parents sold everything they owned, and the child fought hard to live. The leukemia went into remission. As long as they went for regular check-ups, they could live a normal life.

However, a doctor at the hospital for their regular check-ups, unfamiliar with their case, prescribed the wrong medication. The disease relapsed, and it came back with a vengeance.

The child held on for a long time, but ultimately, they passed away.

To this day, people still leave comments about it on online leukemia forums.

If only the miracle drug had been a bit cheaper, or if the drug we’re developing had been available sooner, perhaps so many people could have held on long enough to see the next medical breakthrough.

“Boss, Gleevec is too expensive. I have a selfish request…”

Owen Warren kept his head down, his voice heavy.

But Chloe Sinclair understood what he was getting at. She looked up and said, “You want me to lower the price, don’t you?”

Owen Warren nodded. “I know it might sound impossible, but these days, a simple trip to the hospital for a cold can cost five hundred. There are millions of leukemia patients in Zenthia. Out of those millions, how many will be able to survive?”

‘Maybe not even one percent.’

He didn’t consider himself some great philanthropist, but every time he witnessed the partings of life and death in the hospital, his heart ached.

Chloe Sinclair asked, “So what price do you have in mind?”

Owen Warren gritted his teeth. “Five thousand!”

“Would five thousand be okay?”

Chloe Sinclair shook her head.

Owen Warren’s heart sank.

‘Five thousand… it really was too low.’

‘Gleevec was priced at twenty-six thousand, and scalpers could flip it for as much as a million.’

‘Five thousand for their drug was just far too low.’

“Boss…”

“We’re setting the price at 13.”