Chapter 1378: Chapter 475: War Brings Not Only Arms, But Medicine Too (Part 2)
Robert Johnson couldn’t imagine what kind of devastating outcome that would be for the Johnson Group.
At this moment, Robert Johnson also decided that he must sternly warn his successor not to become enemies with Donnie.
The two sides chatted for a while longer, discussing shipment matters, then Donnie got up and left.
However, instead of directly returning to Atlantic City, Donnie went to Frigga Pharmaceuticals!
Initially, Donnie had transferred a dozen people from the Venus Bank Strategic Department to Frigga Pharmaceuticals, and over two years, he selected Lem Forbes based on their performance to serve as the president of Frigga Pharmaceuticals.
So when Donnie came to Frigga Pharmaceuticals, Lem Forbes personally led all the middle and senior management to welcome Donnie.
Donnie waved his hand, indifferent to such formalities, and asked Lem Forbes to dismiss the others.
However, Donnie decided to keep Alexander Fleming, as Frigga Pharmaceuticals was divided into two sections now: one for research, which was led by Alexander Fleming, and the other for operations and sales, which was handled by Lem Forbes.
Nominally, Lem Forbes was the president of Frigga Pharmaceuticals, and Alexander Fleming was the vice president.
But the authority of each was limited to their respective responsibilities, unable to influence each other’s decisions.
Of course, Frigga Pharmaceuticals would inform Alexander Fleming about the types of medications needed in the market and their required directions. In turn, Alexander Fleming would share his research outcomes and the potential applications of these outcomes with Lem Forbes.
“Professor Fleming, how is the penicillin research coming along?”
Donnie asked Fleming.
In another timeline, after accidentally discovering penicillin, Alexander Fleming, due to lack of purification techniques and funding, put the discovery aside after publishing two papers, waiting until 1938 when the German chemist Chain inadvertently read Fleming’s papers and began developing penicillin purification technologies.
But things were different now; as early as the beginning of 1926, Donnie had invited Alexander Fleming to Atlantic City, providing him with money and personnel. After two years of development, Tang Fei believed Alexander Fleming must have achieved some progress.
Alexander Fleming answered Donnie somewhat helplessly: “The purification technology has been developed, but we’ve hit a technical bottleneck that prevents us from mass-producing penicillin!”
Unable to produce in mass quantities meant that Frigga Pharmaceuticals couldn’t market it.
Now, Alexander Fleming also knew about the outbreak of the Mexican civil war. To him, Donnie’s sudden visit to Frigga Pharmaceuticals suggested Donnie wanted to test penicillin’s effects in the Mexican civil war.
Seeing Fleming’s expression, Donnie knew he was under pressure. Even if Fleming developed mass-production techniques now, Donnie didn’t plan to market penicillin just yet.
The Mexican civil war wasn’t significant enough to warrant penicillin use, and releasing it now would attract other countries’ attention, possibly leading them to develop mass-production technologies by the time World War II began.
It’s important to know that the United States mastered the penicillin mass-production technology in ’41, and within two years, Mexico had generics, followed by other countries.
In that case, Frigga Pharmaceuticals would have done the groundwork for others.
Donnie believed that penicillin should emerge in eight or nine years when the world was in chaos, coupled with his current technology blockade and production control. By then, even if Frigga Pharmaceuticals launched penicillin, they could extend the technology’s lifecycle.
But Donnie couldn’t voice this now.
What if Alexander Fleming slacked off?
“Looks like the company can’t release penicillin in this Mexican civil war, losing a prime opportunity for penicillin to debut!”
Upon hearing Donnie’s words, Alexander Fleming felt even more ashamed, as he was receiving a million US Dollars from Donnie annually, yet still couldn’t enable the mass production of the penicillin Donnie valued most.
“Rest assured, Mr. Block; I will definitely overcome the technical difficulties quickly!”
Donnie waved his hand: “Good. I have absolute faith in your abilities, Professor Fleming, so don’t lose heart. With the international situation so complex, many places are waging war; if we can’t research it during the Mexican civil war, there will be other wars!”
Donnie’s magnanimity only made Alexander Fleming feel more ashamed.
“Let’s go. Take me to see your research laboratory.”
Seeing he achieved his purpose, Donnie said no more.
Alexander Fleming promptly got up and led Donnie to their lab.
After a round, they encouraged them and left the research lab.
But Tang Fei let Alexander Fleming stay in the research lab as the coming matters no longer concerned him.
Back in the office, Donnie told Lem Forbes: “Penicillin will be Frigga Pharmaceuticals’ biggest asset in the next 15 years. In this matter, you must do everything to meet Alexander’s needs while preparing protective measures. In a year, I plan to relocate Alexander Fleming’s research lab to the Turks and Caicos Islands; you’ll only be responsible for production then!”
Lem Forbes nodded: “Understood.”
Lem Forbes then told Donnie: “Boss, I’ve often chatted with Alexander recently. Alexander mentioned medication imitation is actually very easy, even if we launch penicillin, I believe generics will quickly emerge, so how should we handle that?”
Donnie laughed: “You can rest assured; we’ll establish a new pharmaceutical company in Mexico, where production costs are much lower than in the United States. The penicillin in the U.S. will target the patent market, while the Mexican company will cater to the piracy market. If others want to disrupt our market with low-cost generics, they’ll need the capability to do so!”
After hearing Donnie, Lem Forbes’s worries disappeared. Frigga Pharmaceuticals wasn’t yet a super consortium, but Venus Bank was.
With Venus Bank’s involvement, other pharmaceutical companies would struggle to compete with Frigga Pharmaceuticals for the penicillin market.
Donnie reminded Lem Forbes: “Once Fleming’s team overcomes the penicillin mass-production hurdle, notify me immediately, and don’t independently promote it to the market!”
Lem Forbes nodded: “Understood!”
Then Lem Forbes updated Donnie on the sales situation of Frigga Pharmaceuticals’ other products.
After listening to Lem Forbes’s report, Donnie returned to Atlantic City. Upon arriving, he had an in-depth phone conversation with Coolidge, mainly discussing the Mexican situation. After reaching some consensus, Donnie called Venus Bank’s middle and senior management to the meeting room!