Chapter 130: The American Cancer Conference (6)

The A-Bio Cancer Laboratory was a new, clean lab with all new equipment and facilities. Some of the equipment still had their vinyl packaging on.

I feel like our CEO is actually enjoying doing experiments in places other than our lab, Cheon Ji-Myung, who was the first one to rip off the packaging, murmured to himself.

Right? Is he going to travel around the world and write papers in each country? Its not like hes getting a stamp every time Park Dong-Hyun said.

Well, its not actually a different lab since the A-Bio Cancer Institute is A-Bios. Its better than Karolinska, though, Jung Hae-Rim said.

Beep! Bleep!

The security device made a loud noise at the entrance. The door swung open. Young-Joon, who stepped inside, took a quick look around the lab, then asked Cheon Ji-Myung, Is everything going well?

Well, I guess. Did you enjoy your lecture at the conference? he asked.

Yes.

Did Jamie Anderson or the Cold Spring Lab attack you about it? Jung Hae-Rim asked.

They did, but these two people here defended me.

Two people?

The Life Creation Team members scratched their heads.

Two middle-aged men appeared at the door.

The washroom is a bit far, Yoon Dae-Sung complained.

But it is a nice lab, Nicholas said as he took a look around.

Sir!

Mr. CTO?

They were surprised. Yoon Dae-Sung had never attended an international conference like this after A-Gen had become a major company. Executives of a company rarely went to conferences in the first place as there was nothing for them to gain. Even though new data was being presented, it was too early to even begin thinking about commercialization. Usually, executives sent out their frontline scientists so that they could gain some new ideas, get to know their fellow scientists, or sent out their marketing team to spread the word about the company and recruit new talent.

Hearing the news from the protein purification room, Bae Sun-Mi quietly whispered to Koh Soon-Yeol, Why do you think Mr. Yoon came? Theres nothing for a CEO to gain from the conference. Our CEO went because hes a scientist to the core and likes conferences, but what about him?

Well, I dont think our CEO is going to conferences just purely because he is a scientist to the core either, Koh Soon-Yeol said.

Then what?

When he presents something at a conference and people are stunned, he uses that to get funding and a building. So, he makes sure to gain something

...

Young-Joon gave Yoon Dae-Sung and Nicholas a tour of the facilities at the A-Bio Cancer Laboratory.

After one lap, Yoon Dae-Sung asked, But Doctor Ryu, why is the Life Creation Team here?

Because I asked them to do an experiment.

Is it related to the one you talked about at the conference, were you said you would show us hyperprogression in person

Yes.

Young-Joon nodded.

Wow. What is it? Nicholas asked.

Its still a secret. You will find out on the last day of the conference. But what are you doing here? Executives usually dont come to these kinds of things. University professors are usually the main audience of a conference.

We came because we thought it would be difficult for you to take on Jamie Anderson by yourself, Yoon Dae-Sung replied.

I see. Thank you for your consideration.

Well, you are one of A-Gens executives as well, Mr. Ryu. And this isnt just a battle between you and Anderson as a scientist.

Really?

Its a battle between Cold Spring Laboratory and A-Gen.

...

Yoon Dae-Sung said, Cold Spring Laboratory is an old and time-honored place. Jamie Anderson was the lab director for forty years, and every paper that came out of that lab has Andersons name on it. Can you imagine the kind of power that someone as smart and political as him would have built up during that time? Anderson is a huge, symbolic figure.

...

Oliver and Andersons lecture is on the last day, right? Thats when theyll probably pull out all the stops to protect the immune checkpoint inhibitor, not just with data, but with connections as well. It will be difficult to break through that with just your paper and one piece of clinical data.

And when you say connections, what kind of people might that be?

The people who approved it.

The FDA?

Most likely, but we dont know what they will do. Anderson knows that this conference is important and that its over if he backs out.

Probably. But even if they keep using the drug, they will keep getting reports of hyperprogression like this one. It will be taken off the market eventually.

That could happen if the reports keep coming. But Jamie Anderson doesnt believe in hyperprogression. The other scientists are skeptical as well because this drug went all the way to Phase Three and treated two hundred people with no side effects.

Young-Joon nodded. He recalled that most of the clinical trial was focused on types of blood cancer. EGFR mutations werent very common there.

I think they were quite lucky in choosing their clinical patients because most of them didnt have EGFR mutations, Nicholas said.

That could have been the case.

Anderson is never going to accept a disastrous blemish on Cold Spring Labs groundbreaking work. Even if he understood your explanation about hyperprogression in mice, he would have had cognitive dissonance.

Yes.

Nicholas smiled.

But always remember that A-Gen is always standing behind you, Mr. Ryu. Were not a small company that can be overlooked. Were a major international company, too.

Thank you.

Young-Joon turned to Yoon Dae-Sung.

I didnt expect you to come, sir. Thank you.

Honestly, we have had some internal squabbles over company shares and controls, but we have to join forces when youre up against someone like Anderson, Yoon Dae-Sung said. Thats why I took the time to come here, but it seems like you already made your defenses.

Young-Joon grinned.

Thats right. Dont worry too much, Young-Joon said. Science is a discipline of understanding, not faith, right? I dont care if Anderson doesnt believe it; I will make him.

* * *

You said there was someone here for us to meet, but youre just making us do experiments all day, Cheon Ji-Myung complained, half-jokingly and half-seriously, after Yoon Dae-Sung and Nicholas left. I was so excited to come all the way to America and travel, but Im only in the lab, so I cant tell if this is A-Bio or America

Im sorry, but its true that there is someone for you to meet. You will be able to see them after the conference.

Who is that?

Mckinney.

Mckinney?

Hes a big shot in the American livestock industry. He is also an animal rights activist. Ive met him once before. He was the first person to buy and use the diagnostic kit for animal diseases.

But what about him?

Weve got some work to do together. When were done, lets do a little tour of America, Young-Joon said.

Broadway! Jung Hae-Rim shouted. Lets go to Broadway!

Thats New York.

Its not a long drive from here. Dong-Hyun-ssi will drive.

Why are you

Park Dong-Hyun looked at her, flustered.

Youre the only one who has an international license.

The security team will be driving. Itll take about three hours from here. Alright, lets go to Broadway, Young-Joon said.

Yay!

Lets watch a musical. Please book the tickets. Its on me.

What about the seats? Jung Hae-Rim asked with sparkling eyes.

Choose the best seats among the ones that are left. Anywhere you like.

Thank you!

Other than that, can I take a look at our artificial tumor?

Young-Joon was led to an incubator by Cheon Ji-Myung. A small intestine organoid was created in a large culture tube, and a small tumor that was the size of a grain of rice was attached to it.

How big will it be in five days? Young-Joon asked.

It wont be that big. Around the size of a bean? Cheon Ji-Myung replied.

Good.

Youre trying to treat this with the immune checkpoint inhibitor at the conference and grow the tumor, right?

Yes.

* * *

A typical conference had multiple lecture halls as different lectures were going on at the same time.

On the last day, Jamie Anderson and Young-Joon were giving a lecture at the same time in different rooms.

What?

The scientists who were entering Andersons lecture room were shocked by some of the faces they saw. Who said that conferences were for professors to hang out? It was shocking that Yoon Dae-Sung and David, CEOs of huge pharmaceutical companies, came yesterday, but today was even more shocking. Everyone was confused as they saw the two people talking to Anderson. It was Scott, the commissioner of the FDA, and Katherine, the secretary of the department of health and human services.

Hello everyone, and welcome to the lecture, Jamie Anderson went onto the stage and talked into the microphone. Today, I will be lecturing about the immune checkpoint inhibitor, the new drug developed by Cold Spring Laboratory. I can say with confidence that it will be the best anticancer drug of this century.

Jamie Anderson put up the biomolecular mechanism of the immune checkpoint inhibitor on the screen.

Advanced cancer cells produce a structure like this on their surface.

A long structure that was in the shape of a Y appeared.

It is called PTLA-L1, and it binds to the PTLA structure on immune cells, which tells them to stop working.

The schematic of this appeared on the screen. Jamie Anderson went on to the next slide.

Weve made an inhibitor of PTLA-L1 and developed it into a drug. When this is administered, the inhibitor binds to PTLA-L1 and immune cells can no longer be stopped. As such, the immune cells can destroy the cancer cells, said Jamie Anderson. What do you think makes this technology better than existing anti-cancer drugs?

He slowly walked across the stage.

Anticancer drugs are basically poison that destroy cancer cells. However, the normal cells in our body are similar to cancer cells in most ways. This is because cancer cells are normal cells that have gained mutations. As such, the anticancer drugs that science has developed before inevitably destroy normal cells as well. That is why patients lose their hair and feel pain.

Then, Jamie Anderson spoke with emphasis.

But folks, immune cells can tell the difference between cancer cells and normal cells! The human eye cant tell them apart, but cells can.

...

For too long, medicine has had the wrong approach to treating cancer. We thought of cancer as a foreign invader, like a bacteria. Like how we try to kill bacteria by treating it with antibiotics, we tried to kill cancer by treating it with anticancer drugs, Jamie Anderson said. But no. Cancer is a rebel force within the body, and it is a civil war filled with spies and espionage. We can safely destroy cancer if we empower immune cells, the cells that can accurately recognize cancer cells

Jamie Anderson paused, then went on. He spoke as if he wanted everyone to listen carefully.

Without any side effects, he said. Immunotherapy has no side effects. A paper was published recently, but I dont believe it. A lot of papers that are published in

Science

have errors, and they are discarded over time. We have already established the safety of this technology in two hundred clinical cases. Scott! Doctor Katherine, what do you think?

Scott, the commissioner of the FDA who was standing on one side of the stage, nodded.

The FDA can assure you. No side effects have ever been reported in the immune checkpoint inhibitor, and it is a safe drug that has a clearly understood pharmacological mechanism.

There are some people who are attacking the drug, saying that the FDA was wrong to approve the immune checkpoint inhibitor and that it was too soon. They are making up a conspiracy theory, as if the Cold Spring Laboratory put some sort of pressure on them. What do you think? Jamie Anderson said.

Thats just not true. We approved of new drugs fairly.

The Department of Health and Human Services, a higher-ranking department, can vouch for that, said Katherine.

As such, the recent issue about the reported side effects of this technology is

As Jamie Anderson was speaking

Wow!

A tremendous roar erupted from the lecture room next door.

What is that?

Jamie Anderson frowned.

A few young scientists who were sitting at the very back of the room jumped to their feet and went to the lecture room next door.

Doctor Ryu did it again!

With immense curiosity, they opened the door to Young-Joons lecture. To their surprise, there was a small glass incubator on the stage. Inside was a tiny small intestine organoid tissue.

Can you see this bean-sized tumor here? Young-Joon said. This is a cancer cell that has a mutation in the EGFR. It originated from lung cancer, and it was transplanted into this small intestine and grown.

Then, Young-Joon pulled out a small box from his bag.

I purchased this APD from the National Institute of Health this morning. Its the commercially available immune checkpoint inhibitor. It is unopened and still has the quality assurance mark on it. Take a look.

Young-Joon showed it to the audience and opened it.

Now, I am going to administer one milliliter of this to the artificial tumor, and you will see what happens with your own eyes. You should see hyperprogression by this afternoon.

Young-Joon pierced the rubber seal on APD with a needle, drew out the liquid, and injected it into the artificial tumor.