Greece to roman road

Chapter 21 Anxious Philip

The amount of the experimental drug given by Constantine was not large, and after preliminary tests confirmed it, there was not much left.

Among the eight experimental cases, what surprised Philip's experimental team was that the malaria symptoms of the two patients who took artemisinin disappeared two hours faster than the two control patients who took quinine. .

After seeing that the experimental drug was indeed effective against malaria, Philip's team originally planned to follow the planned steps and continue to conduct more detailed drug verification tests.

Drug experimentation is a very serious and careful process. It is impossible to hastily conclude that the experimental drug is indeed a specific drug for the treatment of malaria just because one experiment is successful.

It's just that an unexpected event happened at this time.

A young doctor named Teres in the experimental team served as one of Philip's assistants during the experiment. His sister Keira was admitted to the Athens City Hospital after suffering from malaria.

A fifteen-year-old girl, Kayla, had severe symptoms of malaria, fever from time to time, sweating all over her body, and her face flushed.

I get chills from time to time. Even in April, even if I cover myself with three or four pairs of quilts, I still feel cold.

After taking the expensive German-made quinine, the symptoms were still not alleviated. However, the price of quinine was high. This was a real imported drug. It was expensive, with a single dose costing hundreds of drams. (One pound is equal to approximately 25 drams)

At the end of the 19th century, about 70% of the raw materials for quinine on the market were cinchona bark, which came from the Dutch-controlled Java Island, Peru and other countries in the Andes Mountains (the origin of the cinchona tree), relying on wild cinchona bark. Nashu occupies the remaining market.

Although the Dutch had a monopoly on cinchona bark, embarrassingly, their chemical technology was incapable of extracting quinine from cinchona bark.

Because the technology for extracting quinine was monopolized by the Germans.

The Dutch traveled thousands of miles from Java, spanning half the world, to collect cinchona bark, which had to be sent to a chemical factory in Germany for processing to extract quinine.

This dual monopoly keeps the price of quinine high.

By 1890, the chemical industry for extracting quinine had developed into a huge industry in Germany with an annual output value of 200 million marks.

For example, Germany's famous Bayer, BASF and other companies engaged in the chemical industry are all engaged in this industry.

Moisturized by huge profits, by 1900, the Germans could be said to be alone in defeating each other and taking the lead in chemical technology. No country could come close to them.

The cinchona bark of the Dutch plays a major role in this.

Teres was deeply touched when he saw in the ward that his usually lively and active sister had been ravaged by malaria and looked haggard. In just a few days, her originally fair and rosy face had turned into thin and dark yellow.

To make matters worse, after my sister took quinine, the side effects of vomiting and diarrhea were extremely serious.

Tortured by malaria and side effects, Keira became increasingly weak.

Even though the family gritted their teeth and could still raise the money to buy another dose of quinine, Teres still felt that the possibility of a cure was not high.

Terris, who participated in drug trials, immediately thought of the new anti-malarial drugs being tested.

Although it is only a preliminary experiment, there is a high possibility of accidents if you take it rashly.

But her sister Kayla can no longer afford it. She has developed anemia and splenomegaly, the sequelae of malaria.

This means her life is in danger.

Teres found Philip in private and begged Philip in tears to let his sister Kayla take the artemisinin that was being administered as an experimental drug.

Philip was infected by the grief of his colleague Teres, and out of compassion, he agreed to Teres' request when he saw that Kayla's condition could not be delayed.

After Kayla took the dose that Philip thought was appropriate, her chills and fever quickly subsided and did not recur the next day.

After taking it for three days, the alternating hot and cold symptoms disappeared. Kayla was able to sleep peacefully every night. The malaria was obviously cured.

After seeing the performance of artemisinin, Philip, who has been working as a doctor for many years, became acutely aware that a new specific drug for the treatment of malaria had emerged.

Phillip came in a hurry because he wanted to know the details of this drug.

Just look at the fact that the Peruvian government strictly prohibits anyone from selling cinchona tree seeds or saplings to foreigners. The Dutch spent thirty years trying to cultivate it on the island of Java to know how lucrative this industry is.

"Your Excellency, when will this drug be available on the market?" Philip asked eagerly.

He wisely did not ask about the origin of the drug.

Even if he asked, Constantine wouldn't be able to tell.

"Circulation?" Philip's question made Constantine startled.

To be honest, he has no plans to sell artemisinin in the near future.

As soon as the news spread that Constantine had mastered a new malaria drug, people with deep backgrounds and well-informed information would soon come one after another.

Either coercion or inducement, the identity of a Greek crown prince is not enough to rely on.

Given Greece's current predicament, they can always find reasons that even Constantine can't refuse.

From the beginning, Constantine only planned to give artemisinin to the Royal Guards Regiment that was about to go to the Congo River Basin as supplies to reduce non-combat attrition in the African operation.

Malaria, an infectious disease that can be spread by mosquitoes, thrives in the hot climate of southern Africa and poses a great threat.

"Philip, for various reasons, it is unlikely that this drug will be on the market in the near future," Constantine said.

The reason why Phillip was anxious to ask clearly was not because he wanted to get a piece of the pie.

But as a doctor with a noble sense of mission, he deeply hates malaria, a widespread infectious disease.

Quinine, a popular malaria drug on the market, is expensive and cannot be afforded by many cash-strapped patients.

If another specific malaria drug emerges to compete with quinine, the cost of treating malaria patients will be greatly reduced.

Philip, who has worked in hospitals for many years, felt desolate when he thought of the miserable conditions of those patients who could not afford to buy quinine and had no choice but to endure the torture of alternating cold and heat, waiting to die.

For doctors who treat illnesses and save lives, facing this tragic situation in the world, they bear strong condemnation in their hearts.

Doctors often couldn't bear the heart-wrenching suffering and secretly gave quinine to poor patients.

Because of the high price of quinine, patients could not afford the medicine. Although some wealthy people or churches occasionally donated money to charity, it was not enough to cover the losses, and in the end the hospital had to bear the cost.

As the director of a hospital, Philip has dealt with several such incidents and could only reluctantly fire these doctors or nurses.

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