On this day, all users who had uploaded cases on the Longtu APP received a system message.
"Dear users, Longtu's latest feature 'Shared Laboratory' will start trial operation tomorrow. Due to limited conditions, only the laboratory in Kunming is currently open. Users in need are welcome to experience it."
For most users, this is just an ordinary, unremarkable push.
Although they are also patients, they can buy treatment drugs from medicine, so they don't understand the meaning of this news at all.
Many people don't even know how to open it, let alone click in to see the 'shared lab' feature.
But for other patients, it's completely different.
To them, this news was nothing less than the sound of nature. It was the good news they had been waiting for for a long time.
A patient group called the Bronze Doll Self-Help Group has about two to three hundred members.
At this moment, the group was in a state of excitement.
"@大哥, the shared laboratory is ready. Are we going to start it?"
"Group leader, everyone is waiting for your news."
"Fortunately, the group leader is in Sioux City, not far from the laboratory in Kunming City, so we will definitely be able to catch the first wave of experience."
The leader of the group quickly took the lead. He didn’t say much and his reply was simple and clear.
"Everything is ready, don't worry, I'll take care of everything."
At the same time, a screenshot was shown. It was him who had booked a three-hour shared laboratory order on Longtu.
The group of friends immediately applauded enthusiastically.
"As expected of the big brother who takes the lead, we are waiting for the good news from big brother."
"Brother, can you do a live broadcast tomorrow? I want to learn."
"Big brother is awesome, I will always follow in his footsteps!"
The leading brother is a man who cherishes words like gold. His second sentence only has one word: "Okay."
Then he became silent again.
Friends in the group are also used to his diving, and they all share their children's illnesses.
The leading brother put down his mobile phone, got up and walked to the study. On the desk inside were some preparation materials he bought, the most important of which was a small bottle of raw materials. Others included disposable latex gloves, medical masks, capsule shells and medical starch. .
He is the parent of a copper doll patient. Tomorrow he is going to inspect the newly opened shared laboratory to see if he can use the equipment there to make some homemade trientine hydrochloride capsules.
Trientine hydrochloride is a copper ion complexing agent. Its function is similar to penicillamine. It can promote the excretion of copper from the body through the kidneys, thereby removing excess copper from the body. It is used for hepatopodia that is intolerant to penicillamine. Patients with nuclear degeneration, also known as Wilson's disease of the copper doll.
Wilson's disease is a rare genetic disease, mainly characterized by copper metabolism disorder caused by chromosomal abnormalities. The prevalence rate is about 1 in 30,000 people worldwide. If left untreated, it can lead to fluid accumulation, jaundice, neurological problems, and fatal kidney failure.
Fortunately, there are effective treatments for this disease. The commonly used drugs are penicillamine (Cuprimine) and trientine hydrochloride (Syprine), which must be taken for life.
Since the launch of trientine hydrochloride in the 1980s, the patent has long expired, but no domestic pharmaceutical company has developed a generic drug, and foreign original drugs have not been launched in the country, and the price is very expensive, about US$200 per pill.
The eldest brother's son needed this kind of medicine to treat his illness. He had always asked someone to buy it from abroad. Later, because the burden was too heavy, he decided to make his own medicine.
The manufacturing process of trientine hydrochloride is simple, and it is not too difficult to make it yourself. The leader is also an intellectual. After a period of hard work and self-study, he has mastered certain chemical and pharmaceutical knowledge.
At the same time, he searched for various information on the Internet, bought related simple equipment, and purchased some raw materials from manufacturers. After much practice, he finally produced some trientine hydrochloride capsules.
After giving it to his son, he found that it could indeed achieve a certain effect.
However, after comparing it with the original drug, the side effects and production process are still a little worse.
So we can only continue to experiment and strive for excellence.
Later, after he registered Longtu, he found a lot of relevant professional information on the forum, and experts helped answer some questions. He made great progress. After some practice, the homemade medicine he made became more and more refined.
The patient group he joined before were all family members of patients who needed this drug, and they all admired his behavior.
Everyone is yearning for it, but it's a pity that most of the family members are poor learners, and few have the energy to learn homemade medicine by themselves.
Not long after, the leading brother discovered the 'shared laboratory' function on Longtu. Although it had not yet opened, this function flashed through his mind like a bolt of lightning, lighting up a spark called inspiration.
In fact, the conditions for his own medicine at home are very rudimentary. Many of the equipment are not complete, and the environment cannot be completely sterile. Many processes are not up to standard, and the impurity content of raw materials is also high.
As a result, the finished product is far less effective than the original medicine. Although he has been working hard to improve his proficiency and manufacturing process, he is not a professional with a professional background, so he is somewhat powerless.
The part of the pharmaceutical preparation that produces the medicinal effect is called the raw material drug. The raw material drug cannot be taken directly. It needs to be weighed and proportioned, added with excipients, mixed and filled according to a series of strict processing procedures.
Every pharmaceutical factory manufacturing drugs must meet GMP (Good Manufacturing Practice) standards in order to ensure the ultimate safety, reliability, and controllable risks of drugs.
If you can use professional instruments and equipment in a professional laboratory, and even have high-purity raw materials, then the manufactured medicines will naturally be more pure and the efficacy will be closer to the original medicines.
After the leading brother figured it out, he told the patients in the group his thoughts and received unanimous encouragement.
He made a lot of preparations for this, and also summarized and recorded his experiences and compiled them into a volume.
After the experiment is completed in the shared laboratory and the plan is proven feasible, other patients can make their own medicine according to this manual.
Now, everything is ready, just waiting for the shared laboratory to open.
And an article he wrote titled "Collection of Drug Loading Tools, Side Effect Treatment, and Drug Loading Guidelines" also guided the entire pharmaceutical process in detail.
This article has been widely circulated among patients, and it even thoughtfully includes detailed usage instructions and purchase links under each term in the guide.
Today, when he finally received the announcement of the opening of the shared laboratory, he was immediately excited and looking forward to it.
He had already made preparations, bought the raw materials, prepared the necessary consumables, and was waiting for tomorrow's experiment.
The next day, he got up energetically, drove to the industrial park in Kunming City early in the morning, and found the address of the shared laboratory.
The laboratory is on the first floor of an office building, with a large sign: "Dragon Picture Shared Laboratory". The familiar red logo and a coiled dragon soaring into the clouds and mist are very eye-catching on the sign.
It looks like a pharmacy from the outside. Looking in through the glass door, everything looks new.
The leading brother turned on his mobile phone and scanned the code on the Longtu APP to confirm. The door slowly opened and he walked in curiously.
As soon as you enter, there is a changing room with lockers where you can store your personal belongings and changed clothes.
He put his cell phone and belongings in a locker and took out a plastic bag that was already inside.
Inside the bag was a white lab coat, a pair of protective masks with goggles, a pair of slippers, a pair of disposable latex gloves, and a white hat.
The leading brother took off his coat and leather shoes, put on a lab coat and slippers, and put on gloves and a mask.
When he was ready, he took out the raw materials, opened the door at the other end of the locker room, and walked in.
Inside is a long corridor with five small laboratories on both sides, and at the end of the corridor is a relatively complete large laboratory.
The leading brother looked at the laboratory number, found the one he had reserved, opened the door and walked in.
The lights came on instantly. The small laboratory was not big, about 10 square meters, and it had all the common equipment.
He quickly found familiar utensils such as measuring cups, test tubes, medicine spoons, extremely precise electronic balances, weighing paper, sieves, mixers, medicine pounders and grinders.
Great, all these things were complete, and a flash of joy flashed in his heart.
Unfortunately, I couldn't take pictures or live broadcast, so I had to go back and dictate it to the group of friends.
He took out a vial of API, capsule shell, and medical starch from his pocket, the latter two of which can be purchased online.
He brought a month’s supply of 5 grams of API, which cost 180 yuan per gram.
In order to prevent unnecessary losses, he concluded that tin foil or oil paper must be used to weigh and fill the medicinal powder, because if white paper is used, the medicinal powder will definitely stick to the paper.
Then, he followed the steps step by step, not daring to make any mistakes, and quickly completed all the familiar procedures.
Soon, it’s time to reach the final step of making your own medicine: filling the capsules.
Loading powder is a serious and physical job that tests your patience.
Generally speaking, before loading the medicine, he will put on thin medical gloves to prevent his hands from sweating and the medicine from sticking to it.
Masks are also necessary. Firstly, if you don't wear a mask, you may get red envelopes on your face. Secondly, you can prevent yourself from sneezing when filling the medicine.
Fortunately, the laboratory had prepared everything in advance, and he was fully protected from the beginning to the end. He was armed to the teeth and very professional.
The tin foil on the electronic scale should be folded higher on all four sides to prevent powder from falling off. Then, weigh 1 gram of raw materials and 4 grams of auxiliary materials separately, and shake vigorously.
Only by mixing thoroughly and evenly will such side effects be minimized.
He used a sieve of more than 100 mesh and two large sheets of tin foil, sifting and pouring back and forth, doing this more than 20 times each time.
Shake until your hands are sore before carefully filling the capsules.
Use a straw to suck up the powder and pour it into the capsule like a spoon.
A total of 30 capsules are needed, which is enough for one month.
For those with good hands, it may even take four or five hours to pack 1 gram of medicine.
And he is already very skilled and can install a capsule in five minutes.
All capsules were packed and everything went smoothly.
After stretching and stretching his body, he began to visit the laboratory.
These instruments and equipment are all unfamiliar to him, and he has the freshness and curiosity of a child seeing toys.
There is an operation station in the laboratory, and several functions are displayed on the large screen, such as help, booking, inquiry, etc.
"Hey, there is a reservation function here. Click to open it and try it. What? You can actually order APIs?"
The leader was shocked and quickly browsed the entire list carefully.
It lists some common chemical raw materials, but there are no dangerous items.
There are also some raw materials that he is not familiar with, which are probably suitable for other diseases.
Soon, he found the raw material he needed at the bottom: trientine hydrochloride.
He was stunned and shocked speechless.
The service is also great and considerate.
APIs are actually the upstream of normal pharmaceuticals. Strictly speaking, APIs are not given directly to patients because they are not medicines. Instead, like other chemical products, they are just raw materials.
Although buying and selling APIs is legal, purchasing channels are still quite difficult to find.
It took a lot of effort to buy the raw materials in his hands. At the beginning, the sellers did not sell to individuals, so he obtained them through informal channels.
There are a huge number of patients like him in China who purchase APIs, and the sales channels for APIs are also very complicated, making it difficult to distinguish the authenticity from the fake ones.
Most of these APIs come from so-called scientific research institutes, laboratories, pharmaceutical companies, and even some individual sellers.
Due to different purity, the price is also different.
As far as he knows, the ones that sell more are produced by pharmaceutical factories, with large output, average purity, and cheaper prices.
However, the laboratory's API production is small, and its purity is stable at over 99.7%. It is not wholesaled, but is only produced and sold in the name of scientific research. The price is very expensive, at least several times higher than the price of pharmaceutical factories.
Because high-purity APIs have much fewer side effects than low-purity APIs, which contain more impurities and heavy metals and are toxic to the liver and kidneys, and can easily cause edema in the limbs over time.
The raw materials purchased by the leading brother are the most precise on the market, with a purity of 99%, and are also the most expensive.
According to the seller, it was synthesized first-hand at a scientific research institute in Beijing, but when he asked which institute, the seller refused to disclose.
Of course, some APIs may also be synthesized in private homes. These are usually small family workshops. A set of equipment and technology only costs hundreds of thousands. The output is not large and the purity is not high.
No matter what channel it is produced from, it is turned into a powder with exactly the same appearance and sent to the hands of countless patients.
The first brother clicked to enter the page of trientine hydrochloride.
The details interface shows the molecular formula and synthesis method of the compound, and the purity is as high as 99.99%.
Below is the order button. After clicking it, you will enter the payment page. You can directly use the account of the reserved laboratory to place an order.
The price is 80 yuan/gram, which is a huge bargain compared to the price he would pay to buy it from a drug dealer.
The lead brother's fingers were trembling a little. He clicked several times before placing the order successfully.
The order showed it would take three days to pick up, and it could only be used in the lab, not taken away.
But this is nothing to him. Anyway, he has to prepare it himself and make it into a finished product before taking it away.
At this moment, he was simply pleasantly surprised. The functions of this shared laboratory far exceeded his expectations and brought him a brand new experience.
His needs seemed extremely simple in such a professional laboratory.
APIs that used to be hard to find are now within reach.
In the past, you had to go overseas to buy expensive original medicines, but now you can simply make them yourself.
This is a paradise for patients like him.
Either the medicines needed by these patients are not available in China and are only available overseas.
Or the imported medicines needed are too expensive and are really unaffordable.
In the past, patients could only find ways to make their own medicines through various informal channels.
Not only are those drugs not of high purity, but the manufacturing environment is also substandard. They often have severe side effects and unclear efficacy. Many patients have even delayed treatment because of this, and doctors have also complained a lot about this.
However, there is no other way, this is already the best choice for patients.
Now, they can have a place to buy high-purity APIs, a clean and standard laboratory, and can make some simple finished products to save the lives of themselves and their families.
This undoubtedly greatly reduces the risk of homemade medicine.
This is really important to them.
When the leading eldest brother returned home, the shock in his heart could not dissipate.
He opened WeChat and looked at the group of patients. He had thousands of thoughts in his mind and thousands of words in his heart, but he didn't know where to start.
(End of chapter)
