Chapter 112: Plant-based Pharmaceuticals (5)

Jang Jin-Ho, the principal scientist of the Plant-based Pharmaceuticals Research Department, was working on fifteen different projects simultaneously. Young-Joon set the guidelines of the research method by using Alimap as an example. The smart scientists who had worked with plant cells for a long time understood the direction of their work and the main principle right away.

“Produce Clutinib in the same way I produced Alimap in tobacco cells,” Young-Joon ordered Jang Jin-Ho after successfully producing Alimap.

Starting with the interim results Young-Joon had made, Jang Jin-Ho and his team members developed Clutinib in tobacco plants in two weeks. This item was a malignant lymphoma treatment that cost about 2.5 million won for a month’s worth; it also wasn’t covered by National Health Insurance.

“We have succeeded. If you look at the Western Blot data here, a substance is being seen at two hundred fourteen kilodaltons. This is Clutinib. We are producing it with FPLC.”

Jang Jin-Ho, who went into the meeting with a proud face, presented confidently.

“Congratulations. Good work.”

After praising their hard work, Young-Joon gave them a terrifying order.

“Now that you are used to it, let’s increase the amount. I printed out a list.”

Young-Joon handed the department members a printed Excel document. There were

eighty

drugs listed.

“This is a list of the major pharmaceuticals on the market right now that are expensive.”

“... Are you going to do all of these?”

“Yes.”

Young-Joon nodded.

“All eighty types? You’re going to produce all of these from plants?”

“Yes. But considering work efficiency, it wouldn’t be great to proceed with eighty drugs at once. The second sheet has the diseases with the highest incidence.”

Jang Jin-Ho and the other scientists turned the page.

“There are still fifteen.”

“We can do it. I’ll point out the gene manipulation that is key to developing each one, so you can proceed based on that. Principal Jang Jin-Ho, please distribute the work among the team members.”

“... Alright. But Director, can I ask something?” Jang Jin-Ho asked.

“Of course.”

“Does it work like this at A-Bio?”

“Yes. After I give them the rough research direction and pointers, the scientists experiment themselves and create data by minimizing trial and error.”

“No, it’s not that, but... Do they work on fifteen drugs at once? It’s just so shocking...”

“At A-Bio, the Bone Marrow Regeneration Team has even differentiated hematopoietic stem cells and secured HIV curing technology through gene manipulation under the leadership of Doctor Carpentier and Doctor Lee Jung-Hyuk. With just seven people.”

“What... Oh my...”

“They pushed ahead with the project more quickly because it was before we started the HIV Eradication Project. Isn’t this better than that?” Young-Joon said, laughing.

“Yes. Thank you for only giving us fifteen,” Jang Jin-Ho replied jokingly.

“Well, thank you for your hard work.”

“Yes, thank you.”

* * *

The main customer base of the genetic testing service weren’t wealthy people or patients who paid close attention to their health, but ordinary people who were somewhat healthy. As such, the genetic testing service became quite an interesting issue among the employees at A-Bio’s cafeteria. It was also because they were at an age where they were worried about all kinds of lifestyle diseases and cancer.

Lee Hyun-Ju, one of the workers, was especially interested as she didn’t have any cancer insurance. Whenever her friends recommended her to get insurance, she always waved her hand and refused, saying that she couldn’t pay hundreds of thousands of won a month when she could barely make ends meet.

𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

But now, she was seriously regretting her decisions. The genetic testing service was free for employees at A-Bio and Lab One of A-Gen; it was a part of the company’s employee benefits. Lee Hyun-Ju participated in the testing service with the other employees, and the results were shocking.

[A defect in four nucleotides from position 6714 in the DNA sequence of the BRCA2 gene resulted in the 2166th amino acid changing into a terminating codon. This prevents the synthesis of regular BRCA2.]

[An rs80357894 SNP occurred in Exon 17 of BRCA1.]

[Based on the above data, the incidence of breast cancer is expected to be 92%, and the incidence of ovarian cancer is expected to be 34%.]

[Warning: Individual differences can have a significant impact on the prediction of the incidence rate of cancer, and the above values may not be accurate.]

Lee Hyun-Ju felt like the world was falling apart. That was when she urgently visited SG Life to get insurance, but she received a very unexpected question.

[Have you received genetic testing from A-Gen? Yes/No]

SG Life was asking whether she had received genetic testing before with a document saying that filling in false information could be a problem later at the very front. Lee Hyun-Ju felt that she would have a problem with getting insurance if she answered positively to this question for some reason, but there was nothing she could do. As she handed the paper to the insurance company employee after circling “Yes”, the employee read through it in detail.

“You have diabetes.”

“Pardon? ... Yes.”

“In this case, it is difficult for us to provide insurance to you.”

“What?”

Lee Hyun-Ju’s eyes widened.

“What does diabetes have to do with cancer?”

“There’s nothing I can do as it is prohibited under internal regulations. Why don’t you try Boryung Life instead?”

“...”

Lee Hyun-Ju, who was deeply disappointed, went to Boryung Life, but it was the same.

“You have been treated for hepatitis before,” said the insurance company employee.

“Yes...”

“In these cases, insurance companies will not give you insurance as it often develops into cancer.”

“...”

She went to a few other insurance companies, but it was the same thing. It felt as if someone had ordered insurance companies to collude and not let her get insurance.

‘It’s because of the genetic testing.’

Lee Hyun-Ju knew by intuition. All insurance companies were asking whether they had received genetic testing or not. She searched the internet to see if there were any other cases like this, and there were actually people who had the same experience as her.

—Get insurance before getting genetic testing from A-Gen.

—You can’t get insurance if you got genetic genetic testing. My incidence rate for breast cancer is 11 percent, but I still can’t get insurance. I guess 11 percent is high since the normal incidence rate is in the decimals, but there’s a higher chance that I won’t get it, right? It’s upsetting that they won’t take us at all.

—I’m trying to get insurance because I’m scared of getting sick, but what do they want us to do if they won’t accept us because they think we’re going to get sick?

—Are the genetic test results leaked from A-Gen? There’s a rumor that they are selling data to insurance companies.

└Is this true?

└└I just heard it from somewhere. Maybe not...

—I hate people who say, “Maybe not.”

—Would Ryu Young-Joon do that? He fought with the lab director as a Scientist because of Cellicure. Would someone like that sell customer data?

└You never know. I had a bad feeling about Ryu Young-Joon.

└Honestly, I think they are selling data.

The conspiracy theory heated up and slowly rose to the surface. And to make matters worse, shocking news came from the National Assembly.

—This morning, Congressman Kim Young-Hyun issued a revision to the law that would allow insurance companies to view results of A-Gen’s genetic tests.

People didn’t really pay much attention to new laws, but this case quickly became the center of attention. The public opinion was riled up.

—Are they insane? Insurance companies are going to select their customers based on disease incidence rates?

—Then what’s the point of getting insurance?

—To the people who haven’t gotten genetic testing yet: don’t take it.

—Insurance people. Those axxholes.

—But isn’t it right to let insurance companies see it? If not, only people with high incidence rates will get insurance and the companies will go bankrupt.

—Isn’t the problem that they are leaking important personal information like genetic information to outsiders?

└I’m telling you, Ryu Young-Joon already leaked it. There are a lot of rumors that A-Gen sold all the data. There’s no smoke without fire. I think A-Gen sold data, too.

└└Ryu Young-Joon isn’t someone who would do that. Let’s be unbiased and keep an eye on this.

* * *

Hwang Joon-Young, the CEO of SG Life, and Baek Joong-Hyuk, the executive vice president, were reading a report about the public opinion with satisfaction. Everything was going as they predicted for now. The other directors were also very impressed by Hwang Joon-Young’s response... except for one person, Lim Gil-Won.

“This is not right,” said Lim Gil Won, who was reading the public opinion analysis report with them. “Sir, let’s look for a smarter way to coexist. We can’t keep going like this.”

“What are you talking about? The situation is over,” Baek Joong-Hyuk said with a mocking smile.

“This opportunity may work better for us if we can sort out people with a high incidence rate,” Hwang Joon-Young said.

“That’s right. Think about this, Director Lim. People who buy insurance these days are getting it partly because they are worried about getting sick and partly as savings. We can just put a bigger emphasis on savings. People who have a low incidence rate will still buy insurance because they feel like they will still need it.”

“...”

“Simply put, we are in a position where we can maintain our income with little change and actually improve our gains and losses by identifying high-incidence customers, who we have lost a lot of money on.”

“Then, where will those people get insurance from...” Lim Gil-Won said.

“Well, that’s none of our business.”

Hwang Joon-Young laughed.

“An insurance product that costs about five hundred thousand won a month will probably come out. It will target those people,” Baek Joong-Hyuk added.

Buzz!

Lim Gil-Won’s phone suddenly rang.

Ring! Ding!

At the same time, Hwang Joon-Young’s phone rang. It was a little late, but Baek Joong-Hyuk’s phone rang as well.

The person who called Lim Gil-Won was the executive manager who first reported A-Gen’s genetic testing service to him.

“I’m in a meeting right now,” Lim Gil-Won said in a quiet voice after taking the call.

As he was about to hang up, the executive manager urgently shouted.

—Sir! A-Gen made an insurance company.

“What?”

Lim Gil-Won’s eyes widened. He raised his head and glanced at Hwang Joon-Young and Baek Joong-Hyuk. The two people, who were both on the phone, had the same expression as him. It seemed like they had heard the news as well.

* * *

Yoon Dae-Sung, the CEO of A-Gen, announced the founding plan of A-Gen Life. it was established as a subsidiary company of A-Gen, but it was quickly known that Young-Joon was behind it. It was because Young-Joon, who was at the announcement with Yoon Dae-Sung, explained A-Gen Life’s key business item to the reporters himself.

“Many insurance companies refuse insurance if you have a prominent medical history or family history. And along those lines, I heard that insurance companies are requiring the government to allow them to view genetic testing results,” Young-Joon said. “They will probably refuse insurance to people with high incidence rates. I understand that. I think that being able to view test results is a fair and legitimate procedure in the application process. I support that bill as long as protection of personal information and privacy is strictly enforced by law.”

If insurance companies couldn’t see genetic test results, people who were diagnosed as high-risk with a high probability of developing the disease may choose insurance companies to file claims. If that went on, insurance companies would either go out of business or raise their premiums, and it would negatively impact the general public in the long-term. Rather than that, it was better to relieve the imbalance of information and allow companies to view genetic test results like medical history.

“Everyone can apply for A-Gen’s insurance products, especially those who were classified as high-risk according to the genetic test results,” Young-Joon said. “It does not matter if you have past medical history. You can have family history. It is okay even if you were diagnosed with a one hundred percent incidence rate. The premium for the insurance is about twenty percent more expensive than what regular insurance companies offer.”

“Twenty percent seems extremely cheap compared to the risk. How does that work?” one of the reporters asked in shock.

“Actually, the premium is the same as other regular insurance products; the twenty percent increase is the price of diagnostic kits. We are going to include diagnostic kits in our insurance product. The responsibility of the insured, other than paying the premium, will be to self-diagnose with the diagnostic kit at least once a month.”

“...”

“We are not going to abandon the insured who are in fear of diseases. We do not think giving people money when they become sick after casting them aside is it. What would be the point of a patient who only has one month to live from cancer metastasizing to their entire body getting a few hundred million won? We explore the customer’s development of a disease extremely early with continuous examinations through our diagnostic kit, and we ensure rapid recovery and return to your daily lives with immediate treatment after diagnosis.”

The reporters looked confused. Insurance was a financial instrument, but could that be called a financial instrument?

“Wouldn’t the treatment fee be expensive no matter how early you diagnose it? Can the product be maintained by giving insurance to high-risk people with an inexpensive premium?” asked one of the reporters.

“Usually, if it is diagnosed very early on, the patient can be treated with medication as an outpatient and be cured. Because it is before the tumor gets bigger, it does not require surgery or hospitalization. There isn’t much to spend money on.”

“But anticancer drugs are expensive, aren’t they?”

“From now on, those treatments will become very inexpensive.”