"Honey, seriously, let's have a baby."
Wei Kang kept saying this for several days.
The father-in-law also continued to assist, and the two took turns to persuade the wife to get pregnant and have a baby.
After talking a lot, Jian Jianyun was a little tempted.
Mainly, she is not young anymore, already in her early thirties, and will become an advanced maternal age if she gives birth again in a few years.
While you are still young and your fertility function has not declined, giving birth to your child as early as possible is the best choice from all aspects.
Moreover, both of them are successful in their careers, so there is no need to worry about the impact of having children at this time.
Jian Jianyun has always loved surgery, and her career ambitions are not big. She is already satisfied with the position of deputy chief physician.
In the neurosurgery department of Kunming First People's Hospital, she was the first surgeon. In order to introduce a talent like her with excellent clinical and scientific research skills, the hospital specially gave her the position of deputy chief as soon as she joined the job. But she later made The achievements are obvious to all. Over the past few years, he has completely conquered everyone.
The current Director Li of the Department of Neurosurgery is very old. If nothing unexpected happens, she will be the well-deserved successor if he retires in a few years.
Before that, she still had to stay in the position of deputy senior officer for a few more years.
Therefore, now is the best time to have a baby.
"Okay." Jian Jianyun thought about this and agreed shyly.
"Great!" Wei Kang almost jumped up and cheered loudly.
The father-in-law and his wife also showed happy smiles.
"So what preparations should be made to prepare for pregnancy? What nutrients should be supplemented? What should be eaten?"
When Wei Kang thought about this problem, his head suddenly became as big as a bucket.
"Don't worry, I'll ask my colleague from the Department of Gynecology to see what she says, and I'll give you my best wishes in the future."
Jian Jianyun was unusually calm. He took out his cell phone and called his colleagues in the gynecology department.
"By the way, I'll go online and see what everyone says." Wei Kang patted his head and came up with a good idea.
The two immediately got busy.
One calls the gynecology colleagues at the hospital every day to ask about precautions for pregnancy preparation.
One did his homework diligently online, shopped everywhere, and placed a bunch of orders for nutritional supplements.
In this way, the entire Spring Festival holiday instantly becomes extremely fulfilling and time flies by.
After the New Year, Wei Kang immediately called Xue Shen to the office as soon as he returned to the company.
"Oral insulin program?"
Xue Shen was so surprised and happy that he almost sat up from his chair.
I was shocked that my boss was so ambitious and wanted to solve this world problem, but I was delighted that my boss thought so highly of me that he even asked me to be the project leader.
He immediately realized that this was the biggest challenge in his career. If he could successfully complete this project, he would gain both fame and fortune and reach the pinnacle of his career.
"Don't worry, I will definitely live up to your trust. The current personnel in the Nano Laboratory are very strong. I am confident that I will lead the entire team to victory and develop the world's first oral insulin." Xue Shen couldn't wait to show his loyalty.
Wei Kang smiled and said: "I am quite reassured about your technology in nanoparticles. Oral administration of insulin has always been considered the most promising method, but it also faces great technical challenges, especially The issue of low bioavailability.”
Xue Shen immediately nodded and said: "Yes, there are three main reasons for this. One is that insulin is easily degraded by digestive enzymes in the digestive system; secondly, the mucus layer on the surface of the gastrointestinal tract has a negative charge, which is different from the same negative charge. Insulin rejection occurs.”
"The last point is the intestinal epithelial cells, which only absorb amino acids, water, inorganic salts, fatty acids, glucose and other small molecules. As a protein molecule, insulin cannot easily penetrate the cell membrane and be absorbed by it."
Wei Kang praised: "Yes, it seems that you have a precise understanding of this aspect. As you said, we must find a symptomatic approach to solve these three problems one by one and deliver insulin to the liver."
Having said this, Wei Kang's eyes showed a trace of expectation and asked: "These three problems are not easy to solve. Do you have any thoughts on this?"
Xue Shen thought for a moment and said slowly: "The first problem is the degradation of digestive enzymes. This is easy to solve. Many drugs have similar solutions, such as enteric-coated capsules, which can wrap the drug molecules until they reach the intestines. It breaks down and releases the drug inside."
"We can also build a nanoparticle, like a capsule, to hide the insulin molecule inside so that it is not broken down by stomach acid and digestive enzymes and can reach the intestine safely."
"As for the second question, the negative charge of the intestinal mucus layer, this is not difficult because most nanoparticles are neutral and will not be affected by the charge."
“Only the third problem is the most difficult part of this project to solve.”
The expression on Xue Shen's face became solemn, and he said thoughtfully: "According to my idea, the core of the nanoparticles is insulin, but the outer shell will be coated with some small molecule derivatives, which can be fructose, or polypeptides, and Other surfactants can promote absorption by intestinal epithelial cells."
"After the nanoparticles are absorbed by the intestinal cells, in about fifteen minutes, they will be sent directly to the liver through the venous blood, where they will be broken down and the insulin inside will be released."
"During the entire process, nanoparticles do not need to have spontaneous power and can be spontaneously transported into the liver by the blood flow. This is different from nano pills, but it saves a lot of effort."
"The only difficulty lies in the selection of nanoparticle surfactant. We need an efficient small molecule derivative that can penetrate the intestinal cell wall with nanoparticles."
"I may need the help of a pharmacokinetics expert for this aspect of research."
Wei Kang showed a hint of relief and said with a smile: "Yes, you know how to seek help from the outside and know exactly what kind of help you need. I am very satisfied with this."
"Pharmacokinetics is an indispensable subject for pharmaceuticals and plays an unusually important role in improving the absorption of oral drugs."
"As a pharmaceutical company, Sanqing naturally has no shortage of talents in this field. I have a very talented expert here."
Having said this, Wei Kang picked up the phone on the table, dialed and said a few words.
"I have already called him over. He will be here in a few minutes. If you have any problems, you can discuss them together. I will also listen to see if there are any good solutions."
"With his participation in the oral insulin project, this problem will be solved soon."
Xue Shen's heart moved. In a large company like Sanqing with tens of thousands of people, he knew very few people. He had never heard of any experts in pharmacokinetics, so he couldn't help but be curious.
Wei Kang continued to ask: "How is the Phase III clinical trial of nanopills going?"
Xue Shen calmed down and replied respectfully: "Everything is going well. In more than two months, there have been more than 500 cases, all of which were patients infected with super bacteria. After using the combined treatment plan of nano pills and super antibiotics, the infection It was under control within a week and healed quickly."
Wei Kang couldn't help but frown: "All these patients were treated with super antibiotics?"
This is not a good sign and means that more and more patients are becoming resistant to commonly used antibiotics.
"That's right, polymyxin, tigecycline..." Xue Shen suddenly remembered a report he had just read a while ago, and said quickly: "Especially the sales of polymyxin, which has grown rapidly in recent years. .”
“Data show that last year, the sales of polymyxin B in domestic urban public hospitals, county-level public hospitals, community hospitals and township health centers, and these terminal hospitals, exceeded 800 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of more than 36%. "
Hearing such shocking figures, Wei Kang's expression changed instantly.
"It seems that bacterial resistance genes are spreading very quickly. If it continues at this rate, there will soon be no antibiotics available." Wei Kang said with a wry smile.
Xue Shen nodded, with a hint of excitement on his face, and said: "Mr. Wei, in fact, this is also an opportunity for pharmaceutical companies. If existing antibiotics become resistant, patients will naturally need more advanced antibiotics. Sanqing can definitely do that." Make efforts in this regard and develop antibiotic business."
"In the past, pharmaceutical companies gave up on antibiotic research and development, wasn't it just because they didn't make money? Now that antibiotics are resistant, patients will definitely be willing to spend a lot of money to buy new, higher-grade antibiotics. In this way, major pharmaceutical companies will definitely be willing to invest in this aspect. Engaged.”
Wei Kang shook his head, and then nodded: "The research and development of antibiotics is not as simple as you think."
"But you are right. Sanqing does not have its own antibiotics, only some generic drug business. This is a new track and worthy of heavy investment."
Suddenly a thought flashed through his mind, and he remembered the phage research that Williams had been doing before.
I don’t know how Dawei’s research is progressing, I’ll have to ask later.
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
"Come in!"
The person who walked in was a man in his early thirties, with a handsome appearance and a somewhat shy expression. He smiled at the two of them and found a seat opposite Wei Kang.
Wei Kang said with a smile: "Here, let me introduce you. This is Gu Xian, who is in charge of the generic drug business. He is also an expert in preparations and has in-depth research on pharmacokinetics."
"Well, the company is preparing to develop oral insulin. The project has just been launched. It plans to use nanoparticles to wrap the insulin, pass it through the intestines, deliver it to the liver, and then release the drug, thereby solving the pain of injecting insulin."
Gu Xian's eyes suddenly lit up and he smiled and said, "This project sounds very meaningful, and the difficulty is not easy."
"Yes, but now we have encountered a problem, and we need your pharmacokinetics expert to join us."
Gu Xian was stunned for a moment, then waved his hand quickly and said, "Hey, Mr. Wei, you're right. I just know a lot about preparations. How can I become an expert?"
"I have been making generic drugs. Compared with my colleagues who make original drugs, I am far behind. I dare not claim to be an expert in front of you."
Wei Kang chuckled and said, "Aren't you currently researching the original drug? And it's also a world-wide problem of such great significance as oral insulin."
Gu Xian's face instantly lit up, and his eyes were filled with joy. He asked excitedly, "Am I also one of the project members? That's great."
"Of course, this project needs others, but you are the only one that is indispensable. By the way, we are now encountering a problem with the absorption of oral drugs..."
At Wei Kang's signal, Xue Shen explained the problem in detail again.
Gu Xian listened and nodded. When the question was finished, he immediately spoke.
"This is a matter of selecting oral drug absorption enhancers, and I happen to know a thing or two about this."
"As we all know, oral drugs are convenient to take, easy to store and transport, and have high market acceptance. However, the clinical efficacy is affected by many factors, such as the solubility, permeability, and stability of the drug itself, especially the gastrointestinal tract of the human body. The complex physiological environment forms a series of physical and chemical barriers."
“The most effective strategy to improve the bioavailability of oral drugs is to increase gastrointestinal permeability.”
"To achieve this, people often add absorption enhancers to the formulation."
“This is a functional excipient for preparations that can not only improve cell membrane fluidity, reduce mucus viscosity, and extend the residence time of preparations at the absorption site, but can also instantly destroy the integrity of digestive tract epithelial cells and improve drug penetration in the gastrointestinal tract. properties and improve oral availability.”
Xue Shen suddenly became excited and couldn't help but interrupt: "Director Gu, you are amazing. This is exactly what is needed for oral insulin nanoparticles."
Gu Xian nodded towards him and said with a smile: "I'm glad to be able to help with this project, so I'll continue."
As soon as he talked about his work, the shyness on Gu Xian's face disappeared, replaced by a sense of confidence that he had everything under control.
"The mucus in the digestive tract is a physical barrier, while the chemical barrier is the pH environment of the gastrointestinal tract and digestive enzymes."
"The pH values in different parts of the gastrointestinal tract vary greatly, usually about 1. 6 in the stomach and 6. 7 to 7. 5 in the small intestine. Therefore, weakly alkaline drugs are more easily absorbed in the small intestine, while weakly acidic drugs are more easily absorbed in the stomach. It is easier to be absorbed in the stomach. The strong acid environment in the stomach can easily degrade some drugs. To prevent them from being destroyed in the stomach, enteric coatings are added to intestinally absorbed drugs."
"As for digestive enzymes, they are mainly lipase and protease. If they are nanoparticles, they should be able to avoid this category."
"In the development process of oral drugs, in addition to ensuring the chemical and physical stability of the drug, it is also necessary to ensure that the drug can be delivered directly to the hospital after taking it."
"In this regard, it is necessary to use absorption enhancers, which can not only be used in excipients of oral tablets, but can also be modified into nanocarriers to directly transport macromolecular drugs to specific tissues or cells."
“Currently commonly used surfactants such as sodium caprylate derivatives, sodium caprate derivatives, alkyl glycosides, chelating agents, chitosan derivatives, polypeptides, polyamide macromolecular polymers, and hydrophilic Bioadhesive materials and several other types of materials have already been used in very good applications.”
"Considering the toxicity and irritation, combined with the structure, molecular weight, absorption site, pharmacokinetic characteristics and other factors of oral insulin nanoparticles, the following accelerators are better choices and can be used in an integrated manner."
"For example, chitosan is a commonly used safe and non-toxic absorption enhancer. It can open the tight junctions between intestinal epithelial cells and enhance the permeability of drugs. When integrated with new chelating agents, it can significantly increase insulin levels. Transmembrane absorption, increasing bioavailability by 20%."
"Oral delivery of multiple fetuses is also very safe and effective. Cell-penetrating peptides are short peptides that can cross biological membranes and enter cells. They can also carry different types of active substances into cells in a covalent or non-covalent manner, such as small molecule drugs. , peptides, etc., should be good for preparing insulin nanoparticles."
Seeing Gu Xian mentioning several absorption enhancers in one breath, Xue Shen couldn't help but be overjoyed: "Director Gu is indeed an expert highly respected by President Wei. I finally know that the oral insulin project is really inseparable from you."
At this point, Wei Kang was completely relieved, knowing that the successful development of oral insulin was only a matter of time.
(End of chapter)
