Although he was quite dissatisfied with not being able to monopolize the venture, Executive Sato ultimately reached a cooperation agreement with Chen Yu.


    Of course, this was not the oue that Executive Sato had expected, but sharing a slice of the cake was always better than watching others eat while missing out himself, so he had to reluctantly ept it. Moreover, the interests involved in broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents were simply too significant!


    To be honest, it was precisely because Chen Yu''s venture was still in its infancy, and the development of broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents was only known within Japan, that the domestic pharmaceutical enterprises had a chance to share the cake.


    Ifrge international pharmaceutical enterprises became aware of this development, even Shunten-do would probably only be able to cry wolf, right?


    It was because he understood this reality that, although Executive Sato was unhappy about having to share profits with the other twopanies, he swallowed his displeasure. Aside from fighting for arger share for Shunten-do, he ultimately epted such a distribution of benefits.


    Professor Kube, for his part, was very understanding of this oue and was even pleased that Chen Yu had found other pharmaceuticalpanies topete with Shunten-do. After all, if suchrge benefits werepletely monopolized by Shunten-do, it would not affect him, but it would not be good for Chen Yu. A monopoly could very well lead to bullying the market.


    If there were any dissatisfaction, it would only be that Chen Yu had epted Kazama Pharmaceuticals, which hade into the picture thanks to Yamamoto Hisae''s connections. However, this was not a big issue, or rather, having threepanies in thepetition was much better than having just two in a showdown.


    ————————————————————


    Having outsourced the first phase of the clinical trials for the new drug to three pharmaceuticalpanies, Chen Yu''s workload was suddenly much lighter. Although it was only the first phase of clinical trials, it would still take at least 6-9 months to obtain preliminary results, andpleting the entire phase would take a full year.


    After all, given that it was a broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug, this type of widely applicable medication required gathering more experimental samples forparison, which took more timepared to typical drug development, and the cost was also higher.


    In fact, ording to statistics from authoritative agencies, it typically costs a pharmaceuticalpany an average of 1.395 billion US Dors in development funds to sessfully bring a new drug to market. ounting for a nominal interest rate (cost of capital) of 12-14%, the cost to offset the capital time and opportunity costses out to 2.558 billion US Dors for developing a new drug.


    Of course, these figures represent averages. If out of every tenpounds developed, only one is sessful, the development costs of the other nine are also factored into the cost of the sessful one.


    In the actual development process, depending on the disease targeted by the drug and the difficulty of the drug''s development, the funds required can vary. Most of the funding is concentrated on clinical trials, especially the costly Phase III clinical trials, while preclinical development costs are rtively minor inparison.


    However, for Chen Yu''s research, the preclinical development was alreadypleted, and even practical clinical application -- if one disregarded Inomata Naoki''s case, which was not officially sanctioned for clinical trials and was considered a vition -- could still be counted as a sessful clinical application.


    This resulted in the biggest issue Chen Yu now faced in his research: clinical trials not only needed arge number of people to conduct the experiments, but also required substantial investment in research and development funds.


    Although the University of Tokyo Medical School and Eastern University Affiliated Hospital were both not short on funds and were willing to invest sufficiently in Chen Yu''s research project, it was undoubtedly a more cost-effective and efficient strategy to outsource the clinical trials to pharmaceuticalpanies rather than pouring the hospital and university''s research funds into them.


    "Professor, since you n to outsource the clinical trials to pharmaceuticalpanies, should we continue with the animal experiments?" Dr. Higashiyama, who had returned to work after selecting a wedding dress with his fiancée, learned that Chen Yu had outsourced the clinical trials and asked him what to do next.


    Hearing Dr. Higashiyama''s question, Chen Yu nodded and addressed not only him but also the others in theboratory, "Continue with the animal experiments. Although we have outsourced the clinical trials, we still need to proceed with our own experiments here. We can''t relypletely on others.


    Everything will be conducted ording to the original research n, moving on to the first phase of clinical trials afterpleting the animal experiments."


    "Yes, Professor," the others in theboratory immediately responded in unison.


    After answering Dr. Higashiyama''s query and watching him return to work, Chen Yu then turned to Kyuuzai Ryousen beside him, "Ryosen-kun, how are things proceeding on your father''s end?"


    "Father has already had the Kyuuzai Pharmaceuticals R&D team prepared, ready to start the clinical trials at any moment. The information you asked me to deliver to him has also reached his hands," replied Kyuuzai Ryousen respectfully.


    As a so-called ''insider,'' Ryousen knew very well that to gain Chen Yu''s favor, he had to diligently carry out his assignments and execute Chen Yu''s instructions to the best of his ability.


    "Good, tell your father to get started. Kazama Pharmaceuticals and Shunten-do are stronger than Kyuuzai Pharmaceuticals, so their progress will likely not be slow. Make sure he keeps a close eye on it. As for the information in that document, let him know there''s no rush," Chen Yu said with satisfaction, very pleased with Ryousen''s efficiency and attitude.


    The documentation that Chen Yu had given to Kyuuzai Ryousen to pass on to his father contained data for another pharmaceutical development.


    If one hasn''t forgotten the previous events, when Chen Yu treated Inomata Naoki, in addition to the cancer-suppressing drug, he also developed a Healing Potion to restore Inomata Naoki''s body activity. All attention had been drawn to the broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents used by Chen Yu, causing many to overlook the Healing Potion that could restore body vitality.


    Of course, Chen Yu had no intention of kindly reminding others that he had another therapeutic drug which wasparable to the broad-spectrum anti-cancer agents in his hands. Additionally, he did not n to sell this Healing Potion directly to the public but instead handed it over to Ryousen''s father for production and sales within the Transcendentmunity.


    The idea was to develop a weaker version for sale to the general publicter on.


    As for the concern that Kyuuzai Go might embezzle the Potion form... Chen Yu was not worried about that. After all, it was just a "Universal Minor Healing Potion for the Undead," a basic form from the Multiverse Universal Necromancy Spell Compendium – there were many other forms with better effects, and an entire series dedicated to Healing Potions.


    Moreover, now that Kyuuzai Ryousen had taken up the heritage of the Crow Feather Mage taught by Chen Yu, in the event of any mishap, it would be up to Kyuuzai Ryousen, the second son, to "inherit" Kyuuzai Pharmaceuticals.