21st Century Necromancer-Chapter 885 - 879: The Hidden Dangers of New Drugs

Chapter 885 -879: The Hidden Dangers of New Drugs

The Inari God’s comfort brought Minami considerable peace of mind. Though she was still worried and troubled, it was far less overwhelming than before.

After all, this was divine guidance. For believers devoted to the deities, such guidance was something they could trust unconditionally.

Although Minami was not a follower of the Inari God, when a legendary deity truly appeared before her and provided guidance in response to her prayers, what reason did she have to doubt the Inari God’s instructions?

What’s more, Minami came seeking the Inari God’s guidance in the first place. Now that the deity had given her what she asked for, if she were to doubt it, then what was the point of seeking guidance at all?

However, Minami, who left with satisfaction, did not realize that her worries had actually stemmed from a divine scheme. At this moment, the guidance she received from the Inari God wasn’t meant to solve her troubles but merely to temporarily soothe her.

But then, humans worship deities primarily for psychological comfort. Rarely does anyone truly place all their hopes on the blessings of gods and Buddhas. At least Minami wasn’t such a zealous believer. Upon receiving guidance from the Inari God, she already understood what she needed to do.

She pulled a few coins from her wallet and tossed them into the offertory box, then clasped her hands in gratitude for the divine guidance and prayed for the Inari God’s blessing before leaving the Inari Shrine feeling lighter.

Behind her, the avatar of the Inari God watched her departing figure. After a moment of contemplation, it vanished.

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Inside Chen Yu’s office, he was reviewing a research progress report submitted by the laboratory.

According to the experimental report, the research on the new drug had progressed to the animal testing phase, yet the previous side effects still persisted.

In the experiments, when the potion administered to the test mice exceeded a certain dosage, it caused hyperosmotic dehydration across all cells in the mice’s bodies. This process was irreversible, leading to dysfunction in all organs until the mice rapidly died.

Such phenomena didn’t surprise Chen Yu, as similar occurrences had been observed in previous tumor cell sample experiments. Seeing it happen again in animal tests was just a confirmation of the consequences of overdosing on the new drug.

In fact, this wasn’t a particularly severe side effect. All medicinal drugs used in healthcare come with dosage limits. Even something as common as glucose or penicillin, if administered in excessive doses, can transform from lifesaving medicine to lethal poison.

There are countless drugs that cause death if overdosed on. Some don’t even require overdosing—an accidental ingestion or misuse of the drug could easily claim someone’s life.

Therefore, while the report noted that overdosing could be fatal for the mice, it didn’t elicit any emotional response from Chen Yu.

What truly caught Chen Yu’s attention was the therapeutic effect the new drug had on the tumor cells within the mice’s bodies at normal dosages.

According to the experimental report, the results were promising.

After injecting the standard dose of the new drug into the test mice, the growth of tumor cells in their bodies ceased entirely, followed by rapid cell death. Within a week, the tumor cells could no longer be detected in the mice’s bodies.

This outcome was undoubtedly gratifying—hopeful, even.

Given the advancements in medical technology, there are now a growing number of drugs available to treat cancer. Globally, about 150 anti-cancer drugs have been approved for market use, and the preparations derived from these drugs amount to an estimated 1,200 to 1,500 formulations. Overall, drug therapy has become the treatment of choice for most cancer patients.

Among anti-cancer drugs, their primary mechanism of action—suppressing the growth of tumor cells and inducing their death—has evolved into prompting apoptosis of tumor cells. This is a significant improvement over the traditional cytotoxic approaches used in chemotherapy, which caused tumor cell necrosis. The newer drugs inflict less suffering and fewer side effects on patients.

Nevertheless, anti-cancer drugs are still fraught with numerous side effects and long-term complications. One of the most common severe adverse reactions remains bone marrow suppression.

Thus, modern medical research on anti-cancer drugs faces challenges not in killing tumor cells or inhibiting their growth and division but in minimizing harm to the human body while eradicating cancer cells.

The broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug Chen Yu had previously developed was so eagerly sought after by Americans and Russians, who went to great lengths to acquire production patents from him, that it was hailed as a groundbreaking discovery worthy of a Nobel Prize in Medicine. Its greatest value lay not just in its ability to inhibit the growth and spread of all types of cancer cells but in its lack of physiological burden on human bodies.

For any drug, having a wide range of applications undoubtedly opens up extensive market possibilities. Its safety allows cancer patients seeking to manage their condition to confidently use the medication without worry.

As for the costs and pricing of the drug, well… ha, everyone understands. Developing pharmaceuticals requires investment, and naturally, investments require profitability.

Now, the new drug under development carries a similar promise—it targets all types of tumor cells, unlike the majority of anti-cancer medications on the market that only work on specific cancers or a single type of cancer.

Hence, this new drug’s medical value and clinical prospects surpass those of the broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug Chen Yu had previously formulated. While the earlier drug was merely suppressive, this new one achieves complete healing.

This research, though extraordinary in its significance for medical science and cancer treatment, felt markedly less appealing when viewed through the lens of the pharmaceutical industry.

As mentioned earlier, there are approximately 1,500 anti-cancer drug formulations currently sold globally in various countries, representing a vast and lucrative market with unimaginable stakes.

The lengths to which Russia and the United States went to acquire the production patents for Chen Yu’s broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug in Europe and America underscore the enormity of the interests involved.

Yet this new drug, capable of curing cancer completely, essentially uproots this entire market. The production patents painstakingly obtained by pharmaceutical companies from Chen Yu for the broad-spectrum anti-cancer drug in Russia and America would turn into worthless scraps of paper, leaving them with nothing to recoup their massive investments.

If such a situation were to happen, Chen Yu felt that even as a Demigod, he probably couldn’t contain such fallout.

Those pharmaceutical companies facing severe financial losses wouldn’t hesitate to come for him with everything they had.

Though not afraid, he certainly found it annoying.

Just as Chen Yu was considering how to reasonably succeed in developing this new drug and bringing it smoothly to market, the avatar of the Inari God suddenly appeared in his office.