Chapter 49: A-Bio (4)

Young-Joon was like a volcano that was about to erupt. Baffled, Park Joo-Hyuk grabbed his wrist.

“Let’s go. I’m so mad that I can’t wait one more second.”

As Young-Joon was about to drag Park Joo-Hyuk out, Kang Hyuk-Soo stepped in front of him. “Doctor Ryu, if you go to Sunyoo Hospital right now, will she get the treatment?”

“I don’t know,” Young-Joon replied firmly. “Only the experimental hospital has the right to select participants. It is not something I can do. I sympathize with your situation, but it doesn’t do anything.”

“Then...”

“I will support the doctor’s judgment that her high blood pressure will be a problem if it is appropriate. You will have to wait for phase two of the clinical trial since the range of participants will expand then. If it’s too difficult for you to take care of her in the meantime, please tell me. I will assist you financially.”

“...”

“But please remember that I do not have the right to interfere with the selection process of clinical trial participants,” Young-Joon said as he glanced at Shin Young-Yeon.

“Let’s go, Joo-Hyuk.”

Leaving the elderly man and Shin Young-Yeon who both looked disappointed, they left the building.

On the way to the hospital in Park Joo-Hyuk’s car, Young-Joon, who was sitting in the passenger’s seat with his arms crossed, was lost in thought with a serious face.

“Why are you so angry? Who got in the trial instead of that elderly woman?” Park Joo-Hyuk asked.

“Congressman Shim Sung-Yeol took out that woman and put in his mother.”

“Hm.”

Leaning his head on the window, Park Joo-Hyuk stared at Young-Joon.

“Is that something to be

this

mad about? I think it’s the angriest you’ve been since you started working at A-Gen.”

“Of course!”

“Because a politician interfered?”

“No. If that's what I was mad about, I would have made us go to Shim Sung-Yeol’s office rather than Sunyoo Hospital.”

“Then why are you so mad?”

“The bastards at Sunyoo Hospital messed with my research.”

Young-Joon grit his teeth.

“Shim Sung-Yeol could have requested that to the hospital to help his mother because he doesn’t know anything about experiments and research. I understand that. It’s wrong, but I can at least understand it, right? But the hospital shouldn’t have accepted that.”

“...”

“A clinical trial isn’t treatment. I don’t know how high people’s expectations of me are and why everyone is dying to be included in my clinical trial, but a clinical trial is not the same thing as treatment in any way.”

Young-Joon emphasized what he was saying.

“This is research and an experiment! A-Bio commissioned a clinical experiment to the hospital, and that hospital is an institution that conducts the experiment for A-Bio.”

“Patients are just trying to get into your clinical trials because you’re such a famous star. They trust you that much and are trying to get better...”

“That’s wrong, too! I’m thankful that they have that much faith in me, but in principle, they should not be doing that. It’s not like fame guarantees success. Do they think that I’ll be right this time too because all the experiments I’ve done in the past were right? We can’t do that since this is a clinical study with people’s lives on the line. Research should be done according to data, not the name value of the participant.”

“Okay, man. Why are you getting mad at me?”

“And everything about a clinical trial must be controlled as strictly as possible, starting from the participant selection process! We have to exclude volunteering patients who don’t fit the criteria and conduct it after randomly selecting the participants from the remaining people. That is controlling the variables in a study. It’s the basics!”

“Okay, I get why you are so mad. Can you calm...”

“After excluding patients who do not meet the criteria, the will of the investigator should never be involved in the selection process of the remaining patients. They have to be drawn completely randomly, like rolling a dice. There are places overseas that use a computer to randomly pick. If this principle is broken, it’s data manipulation.”

“Data manipulation?”

Park Joo-Hyuk’s eyes widened at an unexpectedly impactful word.

“Of course! How can the data be reliable when the sample is subjectively selected? If I allow this, the research will become a mess right away. There are so many scammer pharmaceutical companies that choose patients with light symptoms or ones that they think they could treat and advertise their success in clinical trials to sell their drugs! If I pick the participants, how am I any different?”

Thud!

Young-Joon slammed his fist on the window out of frustration.

“But an outside force interferes with my research and puts pressure on participant selection? And the hospital changes patients according to that for reasons that aren’t part of the criteria? It’s an experiment that works with people’s lives; they shouldn’t be conducting it however they want, right? If something happens, I can’t even track down the cause! What were they thinking? These bastards...”

“Woah... Relax, man.”

“It’s not something to relax about! This is something that institutions in developed countries that are really strict about research ethics could kick everyone related to the study kicked out for.”

“... It’s that bad?”

“Of course! It’s data manipulation. It’s a fake paper! And to be honest, I’m suspicious of Shin Young-Yeon-ssi from the Stem Cells Department bringing that elderly woman. It would be nice if she didn't have any relationship with them, but what if she got something from the elderly man and lobbied the hospital? It’s a clinical trial of a project where I’m the general manager, but the staff under me are lobbying and switching out patients, and politicians are switching patients by putting pressure on them... It’s a fucking mess.”

“...”

“I trusted them because they were a large hospital and experts, and I didn’t think it would be right for me to supervise and tell them what to do when I requested it to the clinical trial investigation institution. I just received reports and waited. I even went to the hospital after the patient was fully cured during the glaucoma trial. But they stab me in the back right from the selection process?”

“I think you should also manage the clinical trial yourself.”

“I was considering opening a hospital when the company gets bigger, but I think I have to hurry. I don’t think I can trust any investigation institution easily.”

“But in my opinion, I don’t think Shim Sung-Yeol acted in worry for her mother or because he wanted her to get better.”

“Then?”

“It’s because he can get close to you if it succeeds. The election is right around the corner,” Park Joo-Hyuk said. “I know that people are confusing your clinical trial and actual treatment, but honestly, not me. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve known you ever since you were a little kid, but I don’t trust you that much, okay?”

“Wait, this is kind of hurtful too.”

“But to put my mother in phase one of a clinical trial Ryu Young-Joon is running? I could never do that. I would just wait until phase two, and it’s not like dementia is an immediately life-threatening disease. Since a politician like Shim Sung-Yeol would have a lot of money, he could just get her a caregiver, and she would last until phase two.”

“Hm...”

“But the reason he went out of his way to make another spot and include himself in phase one? Because he’s in the Ryu Young-Joon fantasy? Nope. In my opinion, his goal in the first place wasn’t his mother’s health, but a connection with you,” Park Joo-Hyuk said.

“The news that it was the first successful treatment in phase one and the news that it works well for many patients in phase two have different impacts. He is just trying to take a picture with you in the huge spotlight when you succeed in treating Alzheimer’s for the first time ever and befriend you.”

“...”

“He’ll give you some gifts as a clinical trial patient’s son, call all the patients together for a meal and gain sympathy by asking you if there were any difficulties in the study, that he was so touched by seeing his mother get better, and that he is indebted to you and wants to support you.”

Park Joo-Hyuk went on.

“After he makes you an ally by cajoling you, actually supporting you, and creating a win-win relationship, he will ask you to support in his election campaign in turn for a spot in the Ministry of Health and Welfare or the Ministry of Science and Technology. It’s a cliche repertoire, isn’t it?”

“I don’t care if that is true or not. Even if it is true, tell him to keep going with that disgusting scheme and delusion that uses his own mother. I will

never

follow along.”

“Why don’t you cooperate a little bit? He’s a candidate after all. Do you hate politics?”

“It’s not that I hate politicians, but I never cooperate with people who don’t keep principles. He’s already done to me from the things he’s shown me before.”

“You also put pressure on politicians too, right? When you caught Ji Kwang-Man.”

“All I did was ask them to investigate it thoroughly according to the law. It wasn’t even a request. A victim who was attacked can’t even ask them to thoroughly investigate the people who attacked him? I only asked them to do it according to the law, and I never said Ji Kwang-Man’s name. If he was innocent, he wouldn’t have been caught. I did put pressure on them, but it was to do everything lawfully. Isn’t that different from this?”

“You’re right. To be honest, I don’t think there’s a problem with that either.”

“Then why are you picking a fight with me?”

“I just want to tease you when you're mad. You know when you want to mess with kids who are upset? It’s similar to that.”

“Are you a psychopath?” Young-Joon cringed.

Park Joo-Hyuk saw the side of his face and chuckled.

“It’s been a while since you’ve been this angry. It reminds me of old times... Were you like this when you cursed at the lab director?”

“It was worse. My hands were trembling back then.”

“You had a tremor, right?”

“Stop talking nonsense and focus on driving.”

* * *

Young-Joon, who pushed the Sunyoo Hospital main doors open, headed straight to the Neuropsychiatry Department. The nurses at the administration counter recognized him.

“Hello.”

A nurse quickly approached him and greeted him.

“I’m here to see Professor Koh In-Guk. He’s the primary doctor, right? Where is he?” Young-Joon asked.

“He should be in the office.”

“When will he be done?”

“He is done soon because of the clinical trial preparations. In about...”

The nurse glanced at the clock.

“Ten minutes?”

“Alright. Please let me know when he comes out.”

Young-Joon went to the waiting room and sat down quietly.

“You looked like you were going to barge in through his office door,” Park Joo-Hyuk said with a smirk.

“I don’t have the right to interfere with the patient’s rights to be treated, so...”

A little while later, Koh In-Guk came out of his office. After the nurse approached him and talked to him for a bit as she gestured to Young-Joon, he came over.

“Hello.” Koh In-Guk smiled and greeted him.

“Hello. Let’s cut straight to the chase since we don’t have much time. Can we go somewhere quieter?” Young-Joon asked.

Koh In-Guk got a little nervous as he saw that Young-Joon’s expression and tone was serious.

“Nurse Kim, do we have any seminar rooms available?”

“Room two-one-one would be empty. The lecture room where the immunity seminar was held.:

“I’m just going to use that for a bit,” Koh In-Guk said. “Let’s go, Doctor Ryu.”

Young-Joon followed Koh In-Guk and Park Joo-Hyuk to the small conference room.

“You came here regarding the clinical study?” Koh In-Guk asked as he sat down in the chair.

“Yes. I heard that the patients were changed.”

Koh In-Guk flinched slightly at Young-Joon’s response. He pretended like he didn’t know anything.

“The patients were switched?”

“You’re the doctor in charge, and you don’t know? That’s a problem as well.”

“... A woman named Shin Mal-Ja came in instead of someone named Park Joo-Nam. That’s what you’re talking about, right?”

“What’s the criteria?”

Koh In-Guk gulped.

“That is... We didn’t think she was fit because she had high blood pressure.”

“Is that all?”

“... Yes.”

“If you look at the pre-clinical data we provided, there is data on obese mice as well. And obese mice have pretty high blood pressure. You know why we tested that, right?”

“...”

“It is because eighty percent of Alzheimer’s patients are obese. And a lot of them have high blood pressure as well.”

“That is... true...”

“We could get a safe starting point if we only included patients with no cardiovascular diseases, but it would only be effective for twenty percent of Alzheimer’s patients. That was why we purposely tested obese mice. We have blood pressure data as well. But why aren’t you using it?”

“...”

“The treatment I developed is to send small stem cells to the brain. The stem cells are less than eight micrometers in diameter. It’s smaller than the diameters of capillaries. And the stem cells, which will be administered through the veins in the arm, will move through the internal carotid artery to reach the brain. Right? The diameter of the cerebral carotid artery is usually measured in millimeters, isn’t it?”

“...”

“Do you think that a patient’s internal carotid artery will get smaller than eight micrometers even if a patient’s artery constricts due to high blood pressure? I’m curious about your opinion as a doctor.”

“As I told you, we just wanted to get a safer starting point just in case anything happens...”

Young-Joon stared straight into Koh In-Guk’s eyes.

“So there is no scientific reason.”

“... Yes.”

“Do you know why I am asking you this aggressively?” Young-Joon asked.

“Pardon?”

“The patient who was put in the place of Park Joo-Nam. It was Shim Sung-Yeol’s mother, right? I heard that he put pressure on you.”

Koh In-Guk froze.

“Please be honest. There were only eight participants approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, and you already had eight people. So, in order to fulfill Shim Sung-Yeol’s request, you had to take someone out, and the person chosen was a patient with high blood pressure, whom you would have an excuse for. Is that right?”

“...”

“How could you allow external pressure in the selection process and...”

“I’m sorry.”

Koh In-Guk bowed.

“I am truly sorry. I will be honest. I couldn’t bear it because it was weighing on my conscience, but I can’t do it anymore. I will just resign. This was what the hospital director ordered me to do.”

“The hospital director?”

“Yes, I’m sorry. I will make it right now. I’m so ashamed.”

“... Then, it’s not something that can just be settled with you, Professor,” Young-Joon said. “I think I need to meet the hospital director.”