Chapter 2583: Looking for the Wrong Person

The expression on Wu Hongkang's face immediately became serious: "Tell me in detail."

Old Wu and Shen Wenqi met through friends; their friendship actually wasn't that deep. But Old Wu was a warm-hearted person, so since Shen Wenqi had come to him, he had to ask. If he could help, he would; if he couldn't, there was no other way.

Shen Wenqi organized his thoughts slightly before speaking: "At the beginning of 1978, an unprecedented H1N1 influenza virus epidemic suddenly broke out in the Far East region of the former Soviet Union. Factory Director Wu, you should remember this."

Wu Hongkang nodded and said softly: "How could I not remember? I was in the hospital for over a week."

Shen Wenqi organized his language and continued: "This sudden disaster spread rapidly to Europe, Asia, the Americas, and even the Oceania region, sweeping across the entire world at an astonishing speed."

Speaking of this, Shen Wenqi paused, picked up the teacup in front of him, and took a sip: "The H1N1 virus is similar to the virus strain of the 1918 Spanish flu, but its pathogenicity and transmissibility are different.

Undoubtedly, this influenza virus caused widespread infection globally, bringing extremely serious impacts to all parts of the world. And as a large country with a large population and vast territory, we naturally couldn't stay out of it.

Facing the severe situation, large pharmaceutical companies across the country invested in the research and development of drugs to combat the H1N1 influenza virus, among which was the Yangcheng Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory. And my cousin was a pharmaceutical R&D engineer at Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory; he participated in the R&D task force and was even the deputy team leader."

Shen Wenqi's voice became a bit low; his relationship with his cousin had always been good, and the two families were very close. When he learned that his cousin had gotten into trouble, he was very angry after understanding the situation.

But he also knew that the other party was too powerful and really wasn't something he could solve. Yet he couldn't just watch his cousin go to prison and remain indifferent.

"In three months, they developed a special drug capable of resisting the H1N1 influenza virus invasion. However, this drug was pushed to the market without clinical trials, and then problems arose. After taking the medicine, hundreds of people experienced adverse reactions, over seventy people became critically ill, and three people died."

Wu Hongkang's eyes narrowed. He turned his head to look at Shen Wenqi and asked in a deep voice: "Wasn't your cousin held accountable at the time?"

"No, because he strongly opposed pushing the new drug to the market without clinical trials." Shen Wenqi took a deep breath and said: "But this matter was decided by the then factory Party Committee Secretary, Liu Yunzhou. The R&D team leader and some R&D engineers also supported it, and it miraculously passed the approval of relevant departments."

The expression on Shen Wenqi's face became increasingly gloomy: "After the incident, the higher-ups held people accountable. Liu Yunzhou was removed from his post and sentenced to five years and six months. A leader of a certain unit that approved the drug for listing was sentenced to three years. The R&D team leader and several R&D engineers were sentenced to terms ranging from three years to six months.

Because my cousin opposed the drug being listed without clinical trials at the time, he wasn't held accountable. It was just that a month ago, someone suddenly reported him, and this case from back then was reopened."

As he spoke, a mocking smile appeared on Shen Wenqi's face: "He was reported one day, and the next day my cousin was arrested. Led by the Provincial Health Department, the Municipal Drug Administration and the police jointly formed a task force to reinvestigate the case from back then."

Wu Hongkang picked up the cigarette on the coffee table, handed one to Shen Wenqi, and said thoughtfully: "Your cousin wasn't held accountable back then, but now he's suddenly arrested, and it's led by the Provincial Health Department. Did he offend someone?"

"It's not that he offended someone!"

Shen Wenqi said while taking a lighter to light the cigarette. After taking a deep puff, he slowly exhaled the smoke, handed the lighter to Wu Hongkang beside him, and continued.

"The medicine from Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory killed people. This incident caused an uproar locally and brought huge negative effects to Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory. In less than two years, this once glorious pharmaceutical factory fell into a predicament.

Facing such a severe situation, the Yangcheng Municipal Government invited Qiaoguang Pharmaceutical and Baiyun Pharmaceutical to discuss taking over Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory. Originally, Qiaoguang and Baiyun had agreed, but after the news spread, it triggered strong dissatisfaction among the internal employees of the two pharmaceutical factories.

After all, the medicine from Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory killed people. If Qiaoguang or Baiyun acquired such a problematic factory, even if Qiaoguang and Baiyun were large state-owned pharmaceutical enterprises, their own reputation would be seriously affected. It was natural for the staff to raise objections.

Forced by the pressure from the staff, the two pharmaceutical companies gave up on acquiring Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory. The Yangcheng Municipal Government wanted to shut down Jinlan, but the issue of where to place over two thousand workers couldn't be solved.

After much deliberation, the Yangcheng Municipal Government finally had to make a difficult choice: list Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory for sale and publicly state that as long as one agreed to properly settle all the staff in the factory, the municipal government would make huge concessions on the sale price of Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory."

Hearing this, Wu Hongkang already roughly understood what was going on. He took a puff of his cigarette: "So, your cousin bought Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory, and this pharmaceutical factory was managed by him to be booming, thereby bringing him disaster."

"Yes!" Shen Wenqi turned his head to look at Wu Hongkang and said in a soft tone: "The Yangcheng Municipal Government sold Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory to my cousin for 3.8 million."

How could my cousin have that much money? He scraped together over a hundred thousand by borrowing from here and there. The Yangcheng Municipal Government was so angry they were cursing, but except for my cousin, no one was willing to take over the mess that was Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory.

There was really no other way, so the Yangcheng Municipal Government came forward to talk to the bank about a loan and provided a guarantee for my cousin. Immediately after, my cousin made a decisive decision and renamed Jinlan Pharmaceutical Factory to Baijian Pharmaceutical.

In the past five full years, Baijian Pharmaceutical, relying on unremitting efforts, overcame difficulties and successively developed a series of special drugs targeting special diseases, and cleared all debts.

At this time, my cousin discovered that there wasn't a single anti-inflammatory drug specifically for children on the market. Then, he unhesitatingly invested huge funds and threw himself into the R&D work of new special drugs for children.

Heaven rewards the diligent. After countless failed experiments, a breakthrough was finally achieved. Just last March, Baijian Pharmaceutical launched over ten types of new special drugs suitable for treating pediatric influenza and inflammation in one go.

These special drugs for children caused an uproar as soon as they were put on the market, were widely acclaimed, and set a sales miracle. Naturally, Baijian Pharmaceutical became the focus of attention and thus attracted the peeping of a pack of wolves."

Wu Hongkang's brows were tightly furrowed, his left hand holding the cigarette, his right hand gently tapping on his thigh. After a long while, he looked up at Shen Wenqi.

"Wenqi, for this matter, you've looked for the wrong person. You should go find Zhou Andong. As long as he comes forward, your cousin definitely won't have any trouble, and he could even chop off those claws reaching toward your cousin's pharmaceutical factory." ===== CHAPTER 2584 =====