The strategy eting room at the top floor of BG Group’s Washington office.
Li Gaoyang’s chief political advisor, Michael Harper, a legendary lobbyist with thirty years of experience on K Street, was pointing at the wall relationship diagram with a laser pointer.
"Listen up, gentlen." Harper’s voice was loud and forceful, his suit jacket casually placed on the back of his chair, and his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, "There are seven key individuals within the FDA building who can decide the fate of K Therapy, three of whom we’ve had over twenty years of relationship with, but this ti it’s different..."
The laser red dot paused over the nas at the center of the diagram.
"The new Director of the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Elena Watson, is a tech bureaucrat left over from the Obama era, she only believes in data. The Deputy Director of the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (CDER), Robert Chen, a second-generation Chinese, is sensitive yet cautious regarding technology from China." Harper paused, "The most challenging is the Special Advisor to the FDA Director’s office, David Miller. He’s a forr classmate of the Senate Majority Leader, a staunch defender of traditional dical interests."
Alongside the long table in the eting room, BG Group’s governnt affairs team, legal advisors, and scientific affairs director all wore solemn expressions.
"Miller has already hinted," Harper continued, projecting a summary of an encrypted email, "he believes the approval process for K Therapy needs to be extrely careful due to the possibility of technology transfer leading to national security risks."
"Absurd!" BG’s newly appointed Chief Scientific Officer, Jas Wilson, couldn’t help but slap the table, "This is pure dical technology! All of Professor Yang Ping’s papers have been published in open journals, they can withstand any scrutiny."
"Doctor, we’re in Washington." Harper interrupted calmly, "The words ’national security’ can crush any scientific argunt. We need strategy, not anger."
Li Gaoyang’s image appeared on the side screen. He looked more haggard than at the press conference, but the desire for survival in his eyes was even stronger.
"Harper," Li Gaoyang’s voice ca through the speakers, sowhat hoarse, "I need a tiline. In the most optimistic scenario, how long will it take for the clinical trial approval?"
Harper was silent for a few seconds: "Under the regular path, for breakthrough therapies, the FDA’s average review ti is 6 to 8 months, but if there’s political resistance, it could drag to a year or more."
Li Gaoyang on the screen closed his eyes.
A year? His attending physician, John Ansen, privately told him that given the current infiltration speed of the tumor, he might only have 9 to 12 months.
"We don’t have a year." When Li Gaoyang reopened his eyes, he carried a determined resolve, "Initiate Plan B."
"Plan B has enormous risks," Harper warned, "skipping standard review channels, going through ’expanded compassionate use’ and ’special ergency use authorization’ routes, requires White House-level political endorsent. This will incur huge personal favors and also thoroughly anger the FDA’s technical bureaucratic system."
"My life cannot afford to wait for bureaucracy." Li Gaoyang said decisively, "Contact our Senate allies, start the legislative push for the ’Breakthrough dical Technology Ergency Use Act’. Simultaneously, submit a special application to the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, requesting K Therapy be classified as a ’national security-related dical ergency need.’
Silence reigned in the eting room. Everyone understood what this ant, it was tethering personal dical needs to the national strategic vehicle.
But Li Gaoyang and his family had the power for this, the premise being his family’s support, and it was evident that his family would expend all resources to back him.
"This will trap BG Group in a political whirlpool for the next decade." The legal advisor softly reminded.
"If there’s no future, what does a whirlpool matter?" Li Gaoyang’s image disappeared.
Harper took a deep breath, turning to the team: "Alright, ladies and gentlen, buckle up, we need to accomplish three things within a week: first, organize an academic hearing with Nobel laureates to showcase the value of K Therapy to the scientific community; second, connect with patient advocacy organizations to create public opinion pressure; third, and most importantly..."
He pulled up a list with over twenty Senators and Representatives’ nas.
"Initiate ’Operation dical Hope’, we must get at least fifteen mbers of Congress to publicly express support for accelerating the approval. Rember, the focus isn’t on Republicans or Democrats, but those who have gravely ill family mbers or large dical centers within their districts."
The lobbying machine operated at full capacity.
BG Group’s helicopter frequently traveled between Washington, New York, and Boston, ferrying top neuroscientists, bioethicists, and even forr FDA officials to attend closed-door briefings.
anwhile, a ticulously planned dia campaign unfolded simultaneously — the Wall Street Journal published an in-depth report by a veteran dical reporter, the New England Journal of dicine rarely issued an editorial calling for "evaluations based on science rather than geopolitics", and CNN aired a special program titled "The Cost of Waiting", interviewing several late-stage patients unable to access experintal therapies.
At this ti, Li Gaoyang lay in the VIP ward of New York Presbyterian Hospital, staying connected with various parties through encrypted lines, his headaches and dizziness growing increasingly severe, yet his gaze becoming sharper.
"Father, is it worth doing this?" He asked his father, "We are dragging the entire family into a political quagmire."
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