Chapter 21 Anxious Philip

Constantine gave a small amount of experimental drugs, and after the preliminary test, there was little left.

Among the eight test 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.

Seeing that the experimental drug was indeed effective against malaria, Philip's team originally planned to continue the next more detailed drug verification test according to the planned steps.

Drug experiments are a very rigorous and cautious process. It is impossible to hastily determine that the experimental drug is indeed a special medicine for treating malaria just because one experiment is successful.

But at this time, an unexpected incident happened.

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

Fifteen-year-old girl Kayla had severe malaria symptoms, sometimes fever, sweating all over the body, and flushed face.

Sometimes she felt cold, and she still felt cold even if she covered three or four pairs of quilts in April.

After taking the expensive German quinine, the symptoms still did not improve, but quinine is expensive. This is a real imported medicine, and the price is not cheap. One dose costs hundreds of drachmas. (One pound is about 25 drachmas)

At the end of the 19th century, about 70% of the raw materials of quinine circulating on the market, cinchona bark, came from Java Island controlled by the Dutch, Peru and other countries in the Andes Mountains (the origin of cinchona trees), relying on wild cinchona trees to occupy the remaining market.

Although the Dutch monopolized cinchona bark, it was embarrassing that their chemical technology was powerless to extract quinine from cinchona bark.

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

The Dutch traveled thousands of miles from Java Island, across half the world, and the cinchona bark they collected had to be sent to German chemical plants for processing and quinine extraction.

This double monopoly made the price of quinine high.

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

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

With the nourishment of huge profits, by 1900, the Germans were the only ones who could be defeated in chemical technology, and no country could match them.

The Dutch cinchona bark played an indispensable role in this.

Therese saw her lively and active sister in the ward, who was ravaged by malaria and looked haggard. In just a few days, her face, which was originally white and rosy, became thin and dark yellow, and she was deeply touched.

To make matters worse, her sister had extremely serious side effects of vomiting and diarrhea after taking quinine.

Under the dual torture of malaria and side effects, Kayla's body became weaker and weaker.

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

Terris, who participated in the drug trial, immediately thought of the new anti-malarial drug that was undergoing experiments.

Although it was only a preliminary experiment, taking it rashly was likely to cause accidents.

But his sister Kayla could not afford to delay, as she had already developed anemia and splenomegaly, the sequelae of malaria.

This meant that her life was in danger.

Terris privately found Philip and begged Philip in tears to let his sister Kayla take artemisinin, which was undergoing experimental drugs.

The grief of his colleague Terris infected Philip, and out of sympathy, he agreed to Terris' request when he saw that Kayla's condition could not be delayed.

After taking the dose that Philip thought was appropriate, Kayla's symptoms of chills and fever quickly eased, and there was no recurrence the next day.

After taking it for three consecutive days, the alternating cold and heat symptoms had disappeared, and Kayla could sleep well every night. Malaria was obviously cured.

After seeing the performance of artemisinin, Philip, who had been a doctor for many years, keenly realized that a new special medicine for treating malaria had appeared.

Philip came in a hurry just to know the details of this drug.

Just look at the Peruvian government's strict prohibition on anyone selling cinchona seeds or seedlings to foreigners, and the Dutch spent thirty years trying to plant them on the island of Java, and you will know how lucrative this industry is.

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

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

Even if he asked, Constantine could not tell.

"Circulation?" Philip's question surprised Constantine.

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

As long as the news that Constantine has mastered a new drug for treating malaria spreads, people with deep backgrounds and well-informed information will soon come one after another.

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

With Greece's current predicament, they can always find reasons that Constantine cannot refuse.

From the very beginning, Constantine only intended to give artemisinin as supplies to the Royal Guards who were about to go to the Congo River Basin in order to reduce non-combat casualties 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 for 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.