Fake Drug
Fake Drug
Flashes went off.
Click, click, click.
The sound of shutters firing without a moment to breathe filled the press conference hall. The reporters' gazes were fixed on one spot. A woman standing on the podium, wearing a black suit.
It was Soyeon, the CEO of the hottest pharmaceutical company these days, Jaeseong Bio.
She grabbed the microphone and bowed her head for a moment. It was a posture as if expressing condolences.
It hadn't been definitively determined whether the deaths were side effects caused by Neurogen or not. But people had died. Expressing condolences was the natural thing to do.
After expressing her condolences like that, Soyeon raised her head.
"First... I express my deepest condolences to those who have passed away due to this incident."
Soyeon's voice was neat and crisp. It was not a voice filled with emotion.
A hand shot up from the press section.
"The number of patients who died after taking this treatment has already exceeded 100! Do you acknowledge the company's responsibility?"
Soyeon looked at the reporter for a moment. Then she spoke.
"Responsibility, you say..."
She continued slowly.
"I will answer that question clearly."
Click.
The cameras started firing even faster.
"I will start with the conclusion. The death cases in question... have no direct relation to our company's treatment."
The press conference hall instantly buzzed. The reporters couldn't understand after hearing Soyeon's words. They thought she would talk about the patients who died from side effects after taking Neurogen, so how could she start by dodging responsibility like this?
"What did you say?"
"Are you dodging responsibility right now?"
Questions poured out from the reporters. However, Soyeon did not waver at all. Rather, like someone who was prepared, she continued to speak calmly. Soyeon had little emotional expression, like a machine. The only time she showed emotion was when she was standing in front of Jaeseong.
"According to what has been confirmed so far, the medicine taken by all the deceased patients is not our genuine product."
Silence.
Soyeon's next words dealt a critical blow to the reporters.
"It is an unclear copycat drug that was illegally distributed."
The reporters' murmurs grew louder. It was a story they were hearing for the first time. A copycat drug?
"A copycat drug, you say..."
"Then what about the responsibility for distribution management...!"
Soyeon slightly raised her hand to cut off the reporters. With just that one gesture, she took control of the atmosphere in the press conference hall. Soyeon opened her mouth.
"Our Jaeseong Bio treatment is a medicine that has passed strict clinical trials and verification. The product in question is an illegal counterfeit with absolutely nothing guaranteed—not its ingredients, manufacturing process, or safety..."
Soyeon paused for a beat. Then she said clearly.
"Among patients who took the genuine product, not a single case of death has been confirmed to date."
Originally, it was standard to guarantee patent rights when a new drug was developed. Developing new drugs cost a lot of money, right? So the government would issue separate patent rights, essentially telling them to recoup all the losses they had incurred during that time.
However, it was impossible to enforce this across the entire world. Copycat drugs were often made in India or underdeveloped countries. Because if you knew the manufacturing formula, anyone could make the medicine.
Neurogen wasn't a hard drug to get, either. They might have already obtained the drug and analyzed its chemical structure. It was an expensive drug, costing 100,000 won per pill. If they just succeeded in cloning it, they were bound to make a fortune.
Because if they sold it cheaper than the price of the medicine sold in Korea, it would definitely sell.
However, there was a fact they couldn't have known.
Jaeseong Bio's drugs were impossible to copy from the start. They were drugs made with future technology. Naturally, future technology included variable materials that prevented copycat drugs from being made. It was an anti-copying measure that only Jaeseong Bio could produce.
And only the Genesis Ship could produce these variable materials. Of course, they disclosed all the ingredients for the patent, but if you followed it and made it, you ended up with a drug that had no effect at all.
"We have announced the method for verifying genuine products through official channels multiple times. We have also warned about products purchased without a hospital prescription."
She slowly scanned the press section.
"Nevertheless... they chose drugs with unclear origins simply because they were cheaper, or because they were easier to obtain."
Soyeon said.
"This situation is unfortunate."
"But I will say this clearly."
"Only the medicine made by Jaeseong Bio is effective for Neurogen. Please use the safe, genuine product approved by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety, not copycat drugs."
With that, Jaeseong Bio released the information they had collected so far to the reporters.
Most of the people who died from Neurogen side effects were people in underdeveloped countries. These were regions where they couldn't even earn 300,000 won a month.
And they were able to discover the fake Neurogen that was circulating as a copycat drug. They were drugs that looked different from the Neurogen made by Jaeseong Bio.
For starters, the packaging was different. It wasn't the Jaeseong Bio medicine with the word 'Neurogen' written cleanly on it. Packaging that was shoddy and contained strange words stood out.
There was a reason why the explanation took time. It was because Jaeseong Bio had collected data so perfect and truthful that no one could force a criticism against it.
In the end, the slander about Neurogen's side effects was proven to be a lie.
Rather, it served to raise awareness among consumers who take Neurogen. The fact that if you take copycat drugs because of price issues, you could die from side effects like that.
Of course, because of these fabricated side effects, other countries ended up delaying the approval for Neurogen use.
If this incident hadn't occurred, the approval for the use of the dementia treatment Neurogen would have been granted within a year, but since the incident had happened, it couldn't be helped. Even if it was a lie, the government was in a structure where they had no choice but to be cautious.
[Middle East! Dementia treatment Neurogen use approval granted!]
[Europe, US Neurogen use approval still pending?]
However, approval was granted in the Middle East. Apparently, there was tremendous internal push.
Before the Neurogen press conference... the internet community was on fire.
[I told you there were side effects~]
[This is why new drug approvals shouldn't be given without proper procedures]
[Is Jaeseong Bio not hiring shills? They need to manage public opinion]
[Tsk tsk, I knew it from when they charged 100,000 won each. Fits the end of a money-grubbing company]
[But it's a real dementia treatment, why are you cursing it? If dementia is cured, isn't that enough? And Jaeseong Bio hasn't even released an official statement yet, why are you making such a fuss]
ㄴ Jaeseong Bio shill caught
ㄴ People have died, how can you say such things?
ㄴ It's obvious they'll run away without taking responsibility for the side effects, right?
However, after Soyeon's press conference, the atmosphere changed 180 degrees. It was because the data Soyeon released to the reporters was so intuitive and factual. There were no deaths caused by Neurogen.
The dementia patients who suffered shock or cardiac arrest had all taken copycat drugs of unclear origin, not Neurogen.
Of course, it was the fault of the pharmaceutical companies that made the copycat drugs, but Jaeseong Bio had consistently informed consumers. To take Jaeseong Bio's genuine product.
There would certainly be some fault on the part of the consumers who didn't listen and took the copycat drugs.
Anyway, with Soyeon's logical rebuttal, the internet public opinion turned around again.
[Tsk tsk tsk, get ready to get sued]
[I've sent all the PDFs of the comments from the bastards who were cursing Jaeseong Bio. Get ready to pay fines for defamation~]
[Are there really bastards who don't believe in Neurogen? It's a treatment that's already in the realm of gods just by curing dementia patients, yet they try to slander it somehow, tsk tsk]
[There are always a lot of losers who slander and are jealous of successful companies]
[Until just a moment ago, there were so many bastards bashing Jaeseong Bio, but they disappeared like cockroaches, scurry~]
[We should call the bastards who bash Jaeseong Bio 'cockroach-shills'. They built factories in Gyeonggi-do and Daejeon and hired so many people, they're a company that gives back to society, yet they get cursed at like this]
And the most surprising point was that despite the numerous articles claiming that taking Neurogen could lead to cardiac arrest or shock, Neurogen's sales volume didn't decrease at all.
If anything, it increased.
Because if Neurogen were to be discontinued due to fatal side effects, their parents' dementia would relapse and they would become fools again.
Side effects didn't matter anymore; they were supposed to let their parents who had returned to their senses go back to being dementia patients? From the perspective of the dementia patients' guardians, that was something they could never allow.
Maybe that's why there was a rush to stockpile Neurogen.
Other dementia treatments that weren't Neurogen had long since disappeared.
Because there was no reason at all to take dementia drugs that didn't cure dementia but only slowed down the progression when there was a perfectly good dementia treatment like Neurogen.
As far as the dementia market was concerned, Jaeseong Bio was a company boasting a 100% market share.
Without Jaeseong Bio, dementia patients would end up going back to the old days.