“I have basic trust in you and believe in your professional ethics as a manager, but if the company is full of Mr. Lei’s people, then even if I own 90 percent of the shares, it is not my company.”
"I believe you understand what I mean. I prefer to prepare in advance. When it comes to interests, there's no guarantee that the relationship between senior and junior is safe. You should know how big the market for endorphins is."
Zheng Li made no attempt to conceal his purpose or his concerns about Cheng Gang and the others sent by Lei Jun.
After saying this, Cheng Gang's evaluation of Zheng Li actually rose a notch. "Preparation is the key to success, and lack of preparation leads to failure."
It's very difficult for an 18-year-old to keep a clear head when receiving a 50 million investment.
In addition, Cheng Gang was also very curious about Li Miaomiao. What was so special about her that Zheng Li entrusted her with such an important task?
“I understand your concerns. I will prove my integrity with my actions. As long as I am still at Kechuang Biotechnology, I will consider its interests.”
"Also, Ms. Li, I'm a few years older than you, so I usually call you Miaomiao. Is that alright?"
Li Miaomiao replied, "No problem, Brother Cheng."
Cheng Gang thought to himself that the other person was quite a character, able to understand his subtext immediately:
"Miaomiao, let me give you a general overview of our company's structure. Right now, we only have a finance department, a human resources department, a legal department, and a research and development department, because our first product hasn't been officially launched yet."
“On the eve of the approval of our first drug, we will set up a sales department to be responsible for the sale of the drug. The structure of a start-up biopharmaceutical company is roughly like this: finance, human resources, sales, legal affairs and R&D.”
"Things like public relations, clinical trials, and quality management will be considered for establishment once the company grows larger."
"We will also have our own standardized production base in the future."
“Take Hengrui Medicine, for example. They have their own production bases in many parts of the country, and they also have a research and development and production base in Suzhou.”
"Our company is currently headed by Chairman Zheng in charge of the R&D department, while I am in charge of the other departments, but Chairman Zheng has the decision-making power."
My personal advice to you is to focus on human resources and finance in the early stages, so that you can quickly gain a grasp of the company's overall situation.
"Once I get the hang of the finance and human resources work, I'll delve deeper into the business."
After Cheng Gang finished speaking, Zheng Li nodded slightly, knowing that Cheng Gang's suggestion was not motivated by personal motives.
Li Miaomiao: "Thank you for your suggestion, Brother Cheng. I also think it would be better to start with human resources and finance."
Zheng Li made the decision: "Then Cheng Gang, you make the arrangements. I'll go back downstairs to work."
......
Before a new drug can undergo formal clinical trials, it needs to undergo qualitative analysis and preclinical trials, and then obtain approval from the State Food and Drug Administration before it can be used for human clinical trials.
Qualitative analysis of endorphins is relatively simple because there are previous papers that have conducted qualitative analyses; Kechuang Bio only needs to write a review article.
Preclinical trials are relatively more difficult because endorphins cannot be industrially mass-produced before patent registration is approved; they can only be prepared through laboratory methods.
After a month and a half, Kechuang Bio completed its preclinical trial and entered the period of waiting for approval for clinical trials.
Endorphins are special; they are not entirely new drugs, having been discovered long ago, but they are not generic drugs either, because no pharmaceutical company had previously mass-produced and marketed endorphins.
For generic drugs, clinical trials are not required; only bioequivalence studies are needed.
Patent registration in the domestic biopharmaceutical field is faster than ordinary patent registration. In addition, since endorphins are innovative drugs, the registration process is even faster.
Within three months, the industrial production method of phenoxyphenamine was approved for national patent, and the results of the first phase of clinical trials have also been released.
A typical Phase I clinical trial requires only 20 to 80 patients, but the Phase I clinical trial of endorphins involved 100 patients.
Phase I clinical trials have verified the efficacy of injectable endorphins, demonstrating that their analgesic effect is better than that of morphine. In controlled trials, it was further shown that endorphins can still work in some patients who have developed resistance to analgesics.
Meanwhile, the worldwide patent registration for endorphins is nearing completion.
This also meant that Lei Jun's initial investment of 50 million yuan was almost gone, and Kechuang Bio was about to start its second round of investment.
In fact, as early as after the patent was approved, relevant investment institutions had already approached Cheng Gang and requested to conduct on-site research.
As soon as the Phase I clinical trial report was released, many well-connected institutions had already obtained it.
Investment institutions all believe this is a sure-fire way to make money; investing in it is a guaranteed profit.
At the same time, these investment institutions have once again raised their evaluation of Zheng Li.
There is a significant gap between laboratory products and industrial production, and many laboratory products are many years away from commercialization.
Zheng Li was able to invent a laboratory method for producing endorphins and simplify the process to achieve large-scale industrial production. Investment institutions are willing to invest in Kechuang Bio because of its talent.
Investment institutions flocked to the site.
“Stephanie, as you know, I’m just the general manager, and I have no say in the second round of investment in Kechuang Bio.”
Cheng Gang looked helpless. Lately, phone calls had taken up a lot of his energy because many of them were from acquaintances he couldn't refuse.
When investment institutions couldn't reach Zheng Li, they started harassing him. The person he's talking to now is Stephanie Hui, the head of investment at Goldman Sachs Greater China.
“We are very optimistic about the prospects of Kechuang Bio and hope to participate in the second round of investment in Kechuang Bio.”
"Goldman Sachs can help Kechuang Bio accelerate the progress of its patent applications in Europe and the United States, and can help you complete clinical trials and obtain FDA approval at a faster pace."
"Goldman Sachs can provide comprehensive support for the growth of innovative biotech companies."
The conditions proposed by Stephanie are exactly what Kechuang Bio urgently needs right now.
Cheng Gang remained unmoved. He smiled wryly and said, "Stephanie, I've heard Young from IDG, Tuvia from Sequoia Capital, George from Hillhouse Capital, and others say the same things to me recently."
“What you’ve said is very appealing to me. I’m willing to let you participate in the second round of venture capital, but I’m not the big boss. I don’t even have any shares. I’m just a manager.”
"I have no say in when the second round of investment will begin, when it will be invested, or which institutions will participate."
“Go ask Mr. Lei of Da Mi; he has more authority to speak on this than I do.”
Stephanie laughed and said, "It seems I've bothered you. I don't need any definite answer from you, nor do I need you to do anything that goes against your company's interests."
"I just want to meet Chairman Zheng once, and I hope to have afternoon tea with him, or better yet, have lunch together."
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