"New antibiotics?!" The professors couldn't help but listen to each other. Since the application of penicillin to the clinic in 1943, antibiotics have been developed one after another. But the vast majority of them are too toxic to be suitable as human clinical treatments.
Unlike paminosatin, which is used to treat cold blood, antibiotics have an extraordinary place in the history of medicine. During World War II, the United States placed the development of penicillin and the development of the atomic bomb on an equally important position. Antibiotics are relevant to all people and are truly life-saving medicines in times of crisis!
Antibiotics have always been a popular project in the field of biopharmaceuticals. Countless laboratories around the world are constantly researching them, but those are the ones that are really used in clinical practice, which is also an important reason for the emergence of drug-resistant bacteria. Bacteria are like humans. The same method is effective once or twice, and drug resistance emerges after one hundred and one thousand times.
A brand new antibiotic! how can that be!
"Accurately speaking, a brand-new antibiotic only for clinical use." If he remembers correctly, as early as 1976, Merck researchers discovered thiomycin, and in 1977 registered the first drug in history in the United States. A core patent for carbapenem antibiotics, count the time, and now imipenem may have been submitted for drug marketing approval.
The professors looked at each other in dismay, and they naturally understood what Li Zheng meant. A brand-new antibiotic in clinical practice, that is, this antibiotic may have been developed, but it has not yet been applied to the clinic.
Also, Li Zheng's amazing performance at the Asian Biopharmaceutical Conference won the favor of many world-class biopharmaceutical giants, and it is not surprising that he has private contacts to obtain some information.
But they also know that if they are a little bit brainy in their business, they will not reveal important information about drugs that have not yet been released. Li Zheng could come up with the molecular structure of a brand-new antibiotic through such a suggestion. This talent is already amazing.
"Dead horses should be treated as living horses, Pseudomonas aeruginosa..." Professor Zhao shook his head, and he said, "Li Zheng, what do you want us to do?"
In fact, the professors didn't have much hope for Li Zheng, and crammed to develop a new antibiotic to treat the drug-resistant bacteria that there is no medicine on the market. It's a dream!
But seeing friends struggling on the line of life and death, if they don't do something, they won't be able to pass the test on their own. A dead horse is a living horse doctor. Almost everyone has this mentality.
Li Zheng also knew that it was a fantasy to develop a new antibiotic out of thin air. Even if someone pointed out the general direction under the pretext, it would be a miracle to take out the molecular structure overnight and extract it. He doesn't expect these old professors to believe him, all he needs is execution.
"Then I'm welcome." Li Zheng's lips curled slightly, and he issued a series of orders in succession.
"Professor Sun, Professor Qian, and Professor Wang, you are a group of three to separate and extract thiomycin. There are detection reagents in the refrigerator. If the reagent turns red, the extraction is successful."
"Zhang Yuejun, you are responsible for helping the three professors make data records."
"Professor Zhao, please come with me." Li Zheng said to Professor Zhao with a smile as he adjusted the temperature control.
Professor Zhao nodded, consciously walked to Li Zheng's side, and gave Li Zheng a hand.
"The temperature rises ten degrees again, and Zhang Yuejun observes the performance of bacteria."
"How about bacterial activity?"
"Remember, at 64.3 degrees Celsius, the bacterial cells differentiated and the bacterial activity was obvious."
…
From noon to night, everyone didn't even have time to drink water. In the middle, Wang Jing came back and brought back the patient's medication and response records last night. As expected, several antibiotics were used in combination, but the effect was still not obvious. , There have been patients with dehydration and difficulty breathing. All the doctors at Queen Mary Hospital worked for 48 hours, and no one took a minute's rest.
The director of Queen Mary Hospital made a phone call all night, begging the British General Hospital for help, and asking the British laboratory to test the samples they sent in advance, and the British General Hospital agreed. The Queen Mary Hospital got the sample test results at 6 pm. The sample results showed that the patient was infected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The British side suggested centralized isolation, abandoning the invasive treatment method, and improving the comfort of the patient.
In other words, there is no cure, stop using drastic treatments to increase the suffering of patients, and let them live the time before they die.
When Wang Jing repeated this sentence, the whole person was choked up, "The hospital has started to concentrate the infected people, and the people to be observed are also isolated. Are they... Really hopeless?" Looking at a familiar patient A patient who was pushed out was concentrated in an empty isolation room like a pig suffering from the plague, and all the medical staff felt bad.
This is also a great trauma to the patient's psychology. Many patients have a fever and cry, begging if they can let them stay in the ward or let them die with dignity. Nurses and doctors can only say sorry over and over again, because Mary's Hospital is not a traditional infectious disease hospital, and the medical conditions in the 1980s were not as good as those of later generations. The disinfection measures in ordinary wards are far from guaranteeing the isolation of drug-resistant bacteria. The number of isolation wards is limited.
A huge isolation room, with rows of beds placed together, is already the ultimate hospital can do. They are responsible for the health of the remaining patients.
"I will never give up on treating you until the last minute, but I'm sorry, I can't bet on the lives of other patients." A female doctor pushed a patient she had rescued from the operating table twice into the isolation room with red eyes .
"We didn't want to. Before the test report in the UK came out, Professor Chen and the doctors had been fighting to isolate the infected patient in the ward. Many patients are very smart. As soon as they entered the isolation room, they knew what was going on. This is a great blow to the patient's will to survive, but the most important thing at this moment is the patient's own willpower!" Wang Jing was very excited.
There was silence in the lab, and the worst happened. Li Zheng came to the conclusion that the sample was Pseudomonas aeruginosa early, but he never reported it to Queen Mary Hospital. What he was worried about was this result. He was afraid that the patient would give up the will to survive before he could extract the carbapenem antibiotics. .
"Where's Professor Xu? He also entered the isolation room?" Li Zheng asked hoarsely.
Wang Jing shook her head, "That's not true. Professor Xu and those special patients are still isolated separately. Professor Chen didn't tell Professor Xu that it was Pseudomonas aeruginosa..."
Yes, no matter what era there is a privileged class. Li Zheng breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad that Xu Mingsheng was a privileged class.
"Tell Professor Chen to continue taking medicine, don't give up, and try to cool down physically, there is still hope for me here." Li Zheng said to Wang Jing seriously.
Wang Jing's eyes lit up when she heard the words. The little nurse had limited understanding of drug-resistant bacteria. She could only see from the hospital's response that Pseudomonas aeruginosa was a very terrible drug-resistant bacteria, but she had no idea how terrible it was. what concept. She heard that Li Zheng said there was hope, and she didn't mean to question it at all.
"Then I'll ask Mr. Li Zheng." She bowed deeply.
Li Zheng nodded and ignored the secrecy. He directly selected the correct microorganism and adjusted the instrument to the temperature in his memory.
He knew he had succeeded when he saw a slight reddening of the reagent at the bottom.
"Zhang Yuejun, has the guinea pig arrived?" Li Zheng said.
The three of Professor Wang, who were still doing experiments on the separation of crude extracts from moldy buns, fermented beer, etc., stopped when they heard the words.
"Success?" They couldn't believe it!
"Success." There was no time left, he could only succeed, Li Zheng said with a wry smile. He doesn't care about any doubts from the outside world. What other explanation can there be outside of genius? Events like rebirth, in a modern society that pays attention to science, no one would really believe.
A group of people were almost cautiously staring at the reagent in Li Zheng's hand.
Doubt or not, this is their only hope now.
Li Zheng handed the experiment notes to everyone, "Follow the steps to extract, the more the better, the mouse experiment requires a lot of dosage."
Zheng Lingling had prepared guinea pigs long ago. As soon as Zhang Yuejun called, rows of guinea pigs were sent to the laboratory.
Li Zheng looked at his watch. At 7:45 pm, according to Wang Jing, their time was running out.
Another night.
In the evening, Zheng Lingling and Liu Menglin, as well as two professors from the School of Medicine of Hong Kong University, also joined the experiment. Although Zheng Lingling and Liu Menglin had some hands-on births, they were students of the School of Medicine of Hong Kong University, and they did a good job in data recording and analysis.
It was a good thing that Zheng Lingling was there this night. These experimental dogs have never known how to eat since they entered the experimental state. Li Zheng, Zhang Yuejun, and Liu Menglin are young people who are hungry for a meal or two. It doesn't matter, but these old professors are not good. At the same time as data analysis, ordering meals and pouring water, and taking care of things other than experiments in an orderly manner. A little girl and men like them had to endure for more than 20 hours without screaming tired.
This made Li Zheng's heart dissipate a lot because she brought her classmates into the No. 3 laboratory in the morning. In addition to professional knowledge and professionalism, he can't do this job here without certain feelings, but People who have been ups and downs in society for a long time, what they lack is such a feeling.
"Jingle bell." The sound of the phone was particularly harsh in the silent laboratory.
Zheng Lingling ran over and answered the phone immediately.
"Hey, it's Mr. Li Zheng, is your medicine ready? A patient has already been declared dead in the isolation ward, and Professor Xu's condition is not very good. Professor Chen said, if it doesn't work, let you and the professors come to see him again. Look at Professor Xu."
"Pada" Zhang Yuejun didn't hold the reagent firmly and fell to the ground. The liquid crystal splashed on his pure white lab coat, dyed a bright red.
Liu Menglin hurriedly disposed of the medicine on the ground and wiped and disinfected.
"Senior brother, go and change your clothes."
Zhang Yuejun was pushed into the changing room almost at a loss. He was a graduate student of Professor Xu, and his relationship for three years could not be faked.
Li Zheng took a deep breath, took out the portable incubator, and put dozens of tubes of carbapenem antibiotics into the incubator.
"Go, go to the hospital!" he said.
Professor Zhao looked at Li Zheng's actions and said, "You're crazy, look at the experimental data, the survival rate of mice is less than 30%! This antibiotic does not meet the standard for clinical trials. Said to inject directly into the patient!"
Yes, the data from staying up all night is not satisfactory. The mice injected with Pseudomonas aeruginosa were injected with the extracted carbapenems after the infection reaction occurred. Less than 30 percent of the mice were cured normally, and the rest of the mice had severe drug reactions, and even died within five minutes after antibiotic injection.
Under this experimental data, all professors believe that this type of antibiotic, like many discovered antibiotics, is too toxic to be suitable for human clinical treatment.
But they also acknowledge that the carbapenems are indeed effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, which is an exciting result, as long as it goes down this path, Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection is no longer a problem There is no cure!
But how many years will this road take, one year, two years, five years? This may not be a big deal for the entire human process, but for the patients now lying in the isolation ward, for Xu Mingsheng, who is struggling on the line of life and death, this is the distance between life and death.
"It is indeed effective against Pseudomonas aeruginosa, isn't it? This is the only way!" Li Zheng had never tried to extract carbapenems in his last life. Even if he knew the extraction steps and molecular formula, he couldn't be so short-lived. Perfect toxicity control with minimal carbapenem antibiotics within a given time.
This is the best he can do. He knows that carbapenems are highly nephrotoxic, but to patients who are already on the brink of death, these nephrotoxicities are nothing. After all, the guinea pig is not a human being. As long as it is combined with some drugs to relieve kidney toxicity, he is 80% sure that most people can withstand the side effects of the drug.
He doesn't have time to do the experiment of cooperating with the reliever drug injection. With 80% certainty, he can only gamble.
"No! Absolutely not! If something goes wrong, Li Zheng, do you know what the result will be?" Professor Wang strongly objected. No one would know better than them what Li Zheng meant by doing so.
Once Li Zheng does this, the best thing is that the patient is safe. Once someone dies due to drug toxicity, the spit of the world can drown this young man. The media will put all the ugly hats on this young man's head. Experiments, what butchers, are there still few such examples in the history of pharmacy? How many amazing geniuses have fallen, disappeared in this circle, and some even committed suicide because of the pressure.
No one will care why you do this, they only know that if they don't meet the standard, injecting them into the human body is against humanity! No one would work with a biologist who wears the title of Anti-Human. Once failed, Li Zheng's career will usher in a devastating blow.
The professors must not watch Li Zheng do this.
Li Zheng looked at the professors who were emotionally opposed to what he did, and a warm feeling surged in her heart, but her thoughts became more and more firm, "Professor, compared with the chance of survival of more than 100 lives, I think I can live with the consequences."
Li Zheng had already prepared for the worst in his heart. Is he sure that even a single patient will be safe? No. However, he calculated that he had a lot of money on hand. If he really couldn't enter the laboratory, he wouldn't starve to death.
And it's not without wiggle room. Find someone you trust and put it on the table, and he just hides behind the scenes. It is that the dream of Nobel is going to be ruined, and he can no longer stand on the stage to accept any obvious honor.
Also, Li Zheng always felt that his own luck was pretty good, otherwise he wouldn't die suddenly and be reborn in front of the experimental bench. God... I shouldn't just watch him play like this.
"Li Zheng..." Professor Zhao wanted to say something else.
Li Zheng waved his hand, "Professor, go on, I don't have the chance to give. Don't worry, I will protect myself to the greatest extent possible." After speaking, he winked at Zhang Yuejun, Zhang Yuejun nodded and ran quickly. out to drive.
Professor Zhao was almost out of breath, and was so angry. You're all about to go shirtless, what are you talking about protecting yourself? But while he was angry, he was more moved, envious and ashamed.
Impressed by Li Zheng's choice, he was envious of Xu Mingsheng, an old boy who had such a good student. He was ashamed... He raised his head and looked at a few old buddies, and both saw the shame in each other's eyes. They are used to fame and fortune, and are used to In order to be respected by others, he has lacked the courage to gamble.
"Let's go, let's go with you!" Professor Zhao said.
The professors nodded at the same time, and went with Li Zheng to represent that they knew and supported this matter, which was also a great risk for the professors. If patients do die because of antibiotic injections, although they will not be forced out of the circle like Li Zheng, it is inevitable that they will be scolded and their reputation damaged.
Li Zheng looked at them in surprise, and it took a long time before a helpless smile appeared on his face, "Okay, you can do whatever you want." These stubborn cows, if you strongly refuse, will make them think that you look down on them. Li Zheng, who has been a scholar for two lifetimes, understands their psychology too well.
At 3:15 in the morning, a van with more than 100 lives, more than 100 families, and hundreds of people's hopes slowly pulled out from Qingyuan and headed towards the downtown Queen Mary Hospital in darkness.
At 3:15 in the morning, the nightlife in Xiangjiang has not yet ended, the dazzling neon lights, the sports cars carrying beautiful women, the cheerful shouts of young people walking in the wind, they will not want to fight, not far from them, a group of people are Struggling on the line of life and death, trying to get the hope of life.
Zhang Yuejun's car drove very fast, and God was probably on their side today, and they didn't encounter a red light along the way.
When he saw the four characters of Queen Mary Hospital from a distance, Li Zheng looked at his watch, it was 3:45.
Queen Mary's Hospital had been cordoned off, and police officers saw the van approaching, flashing flashlights in their hands.
"Don't come near, don't come near."
Zhang Yuejun drifted beautifully, the car stopped in front of the blockade, Li Zheng and others quickly got out of the car, the police were about to come forward to negotiate with them.
Chen Sufen and Wang Jing, who were wearing white coats, rushed out of the blockade.
"You are here!"
The leading policeman knew Chen Sufen. Seeing this, he stopped coming forward, shrugged and returned to his position.
Li Zheng is still wearing laboratory protective clothing. The protective clothing in Li Zheng's laboratory is of the highest international standard. The effect of isolating bacteria is much better than the white coat of the doctor at Queen Mary Hospital.
"Come in, Lao Xu is still conscious now." Chen Sufen didn't take the hope that Wang Jing said to heart at all. The doctors who have been on the front line of the clinic know the horror of Pseudomonas aeruginosa even more. She asked Li Zheng and others to do so. He came here with the idea of letting Lao Xu see his colleagues and proud disciples one last time.
There were already quite a few people in Xu Mingsheng's ward. The young were in their twenties, and the older ones were in their thirties and forties. A young man in his thirties sat on Xu Mingsheng's bedside with a sad face and saw Li. Zheng and his party came in and said, "Dad, Uncle Zhao and the others are here."
This is Xu Mingsheng's son, Xu Keqiang, a doctoral student at Harvard Medical School.
"Lao Xu!" Several professors stepped forward.
The ward remembered the successive greetings. It seemed that these people were Xu Mingsheng's students.
Li Zheng stepped forward, put the refrigerated incubator aside, and immediately picked up Xu Mingsheng's case hanging at the end of the bed.
It can be clearly seen from the medication records that Chen Sufen has tried all the antibiotics that can be used on Xu Mingsheng, but there is no good effect.
The high temperature made Xu Mingsheng already showing signs of dehydration and difficulty breathing, and he couldn't wait any longer.
"Old Zhao, how many points did I apply for the project funding this year? Just remember that the hospital must not take it back! It can't be cheap for the old guys from the Humanities Department!" Xu Mingsheng's voice was a little weak, and the high temperature made the He was a little weak all over.
"What nonsense! You have finally applied for the funds, you just need to spend it yourself. If we lack it, we will naturally snatch it from the old guys from the Humanities Department. There is no need for you to be humble here." The professors said this , there was no trace of sadness on their faces, as if this was just an ordinary daily conversation between colleagues.
Xu Mingsheng heard the words, his face relaxed a lot, he looked at everyone with a smile, "I'm also polite to me."
Turning his eyes to Li Zheng, Xu Mingsheng showed a kind smile on his face, "Good boy, I'm very proud, although to be honest, I didn't teach you anything, but I'm still very proud."
Li Zheng felt that his eyes were astringent, and he took two steps forward, "Teacher, since you know that you haven't taught me anything, should you reflect on yourself and try to find something that you can teach me in the days to come? ."