godfather of surgery

Chapter 403 Deal
Houston, Texas, 35 kilometers southeast of Clear Lake, Johnson Space Center.

When Johannesson got off the plane, it was past ten o'clock in the evening. The special car from the space center took him from the airport to a hotel near Space City, and he had a rest overnight. At seven o'clock in the morning, Johannesson hurried to Johnson Aerospace without breakfast. Center Building [-].

At this time, the space city was empty, only some security guards patrolled the night. The staff went to work at ten o'clock, and the visitors could only enter at ten o'clock. The entire Building [-] of the Johnson Space Center, and only one office was lit.

Dr. Collins is already waiting at the downstairs door. He is the leader of the medical team at NASA Johnson Space Center, and Johannesson is a special expert for their medical team.

After showing his ID to the security guard at night and completing the necessary security check procedures, Collins took Johannesson to the office of the medical team.

"I didn't expect you to arrive last night. I'm very sorry. I must have delayed you a lot. Would you like some coffee?" Collins apologized and asked if he needed coffee.

Johannesson refused coffee. He was not interested in coffee or any beverage except plain water.

When he was an undergraduate biology student at Harvard University, not to mention coffee, smoking and drinking were commonplace.

After successfully graduating from a four-year undergraduate course, he was successfully admitted to Harvard Medical School. Since then, he has quit smoking, alcohol and all beverages, including coffee.

"Sorry, I keep forgetting, you only drink mineral water." Collins went to the water dispenser and poured a glass of boiling water for Johannesson.

Johannesson didn't have time to exchange pleasantries, so he went straight to the point: "Is Steven feeling unwell at the moment?"

"Yesterday at the ground control center, I finished a call with him. He didn't feel any discomfort, and his heart rate remained at around 52 beats per minute. We were very nervous and couldn't find the reason." Collins sat down.

"Although the microgravity of the space station will bring many puzzling physical abnormalities, some of the problems we have encountered have not been solved yet, but Steven's abnormality makes me a little uneasy. We need more experts. , Department of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Respiratory Medicine, Department of Neurology, Department of Endocrinology, Department of Thoracic Surgery, etc., we are going to have a complete discussion.” Johannesson didn’t know why he was so nervous this time.

"They will all come. They can arrive at four o'clock in the afternoon at the latest. Dr. Eugene, the Cardiovascular Department of Johns Hopkins, the first flight this morning takes off at six o'clock, and they should be here before nine o'clock." Collins will special hire Experts are invited.

Although Steven didn't have any discomfort in his body, he had to pay attention to the slowing of his heart rate. Some problems were beyond the capabilities of their medical team and had to be discussed by the top experts in the country.

In 20 days, Steven will have spent six months on the International Space Station, when he will return to the ground and be replaced by new members of the expedition team.

"You also think the problem is not simple?" Johannesson laughed.

Collins frowned: "Heart problems, even a little trouble, I think it's a big problem. Before we figure out the reason, we dare not use atropine to increase the heart rate. It can guarantee that bigger problems will not follow up immediately."

On the International Space Station, the standing medicine in the medicine cabinet is atropine.

"Why did I come here overnight, because I'm worried that the problem may be in the brain-brain stem! Although the probability is extremely low, I still want to remind you." Johannesson took a deep sip of water.

"When he was on the ground, there was never a problem with the physical examination, there was no problem." Collins felt that the possibility of intracranial disease was too small.

"Medical equipment can never be [-]% reliable. There are many reasons for slowing down the heart rate. I hope I am too worried. If Steven is just a transient performance in a microgravity environment and does not affect his return flight, it is best, but in case One——." Johannesson never comforts himself, even if there is a one-in-a-million probability, he should pay attention to it, and there should be no chances. This is the quality of a doctor.

"If so, can he expect to return to the surface? Our current communication is private and informal and will not be recorded."

"I don't know the reason now, so it's hard for me to judge, but if it's an intracranial aneurysm or something, I'm afraid I won't be able to return. The impact of the fall when returning will kill him."

"No, no, no, this is too scary. If it's an aneurysm, the artery will explode and rupture on the way back." Collins' heart was pounding.

Johannesson shook his head: "If it's in the brainstem, the situation will be even more terrifying."

"No, how can a slow heart rate be the first symptom of an intracranial aneurysm? It shouldn't be headache, dizziness, or some neurological symptoms. What is the basis for your judgment? He is a strong guy. Look at his records. Numerous physical examinations, without any problems, not even a little bit of abnormal data, the last physical examination before the launch, head MRI cerebral angiography, without any problems, and the previous cerebral angiography was also without problems."

"Of course, this is just my worst guess, and I hope it's not. Not long ago, I saw a case in China. The tumor in the brain stem was the first symptom of slowed heart rate and breathing. Thinking like this, maybe I’m too sensitive, so don’t worry too much, I’m a neurosurgeon, so anyone who looks at it will think there’s something wrong with the brain.” Johannesson didn’t want to intimidate Collins, after all, there is no evidence yet.

There are many reasons for slowing down the heart rate, and I only consider one of them.

"I hope not. If it is, we will be helpless. Returning will lead to death, and not returning is waiting for death."

Collins looked out the window, the sun was getting brighter, he got up and turned off the lights in the office.

"How about we go have some breakfast? You haven't had breakfast in Space City for a long time." Collins invited Johannesson.

Johannesson was also hungry: "I thought you only served me mineral water."
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In the question-and-answer session yesterday afternoon, everyone asked questions enthusiastically. Some people's questions were very tricky, but they were easily resolved by Yang Ping.

Even Robert felt that those tricky questions were too much, but Yang Ping's answer left the questioner speechless.

"Today, continue to keep the style of yesterday, that's it, Dr. Yang, if you remain humble, they will think you are timid, afraid, lack of knowledge and ability, and you can only argue with them fiercely until they are speechless, It’s better to ridicule them a few more words, so that they will be convinced that Americans are different from Chinese, so you don’t need to save face for them.”

"How do you say it in Chinese style?"

Robert turned to ask Old Cheng.

Boss Cheng said, "Damn it!"

"Yes! Do it to death!"

Robert told Yang Ping that when the lecture was over, those guys who hadn't finished talking yesterday would surely launch an attack again and try to kill him.

From yesterday's meeting, several guys were still chasing questions, and they knew that several guys were still not reconciled, and they would continue to bombard Dr. Yang today.

Yang Ping also felt that what Robert said was right. For these Yankees, if you keep your strength, they will think you are not good enough. It is this strength. It is the right way to fight to the death. Americans understand Americans. Yang Ping likes Robert very much. Give him the thumbs up.

Robert was very happy to see Yang Ping's thumb.

The engineer of OrthoPediatricS followed behind: "Dr. Yang, can you spare some time to talk about the patent transaction after class? Our company's negotiators have arrived."

This engineer has been talking about cooperation with Yang Ping, and it's not that Yang Ping doesn't have time to talk to him. He wants Huang Jia to come forward to talk about these trivial business matters.

Yesterday, Huang Jiacai came back at night, Yang Ping made a power of attorney for Huang Jiacai, asking him to help discuss the matter of patent authorization.

Lao Cheng was the deputy in the negotiation. With the help of Robert, Huang Jiacai found a translator, a lawyer who is good at intellectual property rights, and formed a complete negotiation team.

After the lecture, Dr. Yang still had something to do. There was no time to negotiate. Robert immediately said to the engineer, "Don't follow Dr. Yang, talk to Dr. Yang's representative. This Mr. Huang, I have prepared a place for you."

Robert found a conference room in the administrative area of ​​the hospital for them to negotiate, and then accompanied Yang Ping to the conference room to give lectures.

"This is the power of attorney from Dr. Yang. He has entrusted me with full authority to negotiate." Huang Jiacai took out the power of attorney and showed it to the representative of OrthoPediatricS.

OrthoPediatricS has four representatives. In addition to engineers, there is also a vice president of the company, a lawyer from the legal department, and a specialist from the patent department.

With Huang Jiacai, it's exactly four against four.

"We are very interested in Dr. Yang's devices and want to purchase the international patent rights of the whole set of devices. I wonder if you agree to this transaction. We are currently the only company in the world that focuses on children's orthopedic implants." Deputy representative of OrthoPediatricS Sorin is very direct.

Huang Jiacai can actually speak and listen to English, but what he learned in the training class, it is difficult to deal with formal negotiations with Americans, so he still relies on the help of an interpreter.

"We don't intend to sell the patent rights, but only want to carry out exclusive authorization." Huang Jiacai replied firmly.

Sorin shrugged: "Of course, if we carry out an exclusive license, we will also pay a license fee that satisfies you."

"How much?" Huang Jia didn't want to waste time.

Thorin stretched out two fingers: "Two million dollars per year."

Huang Jiacai scolded in his heart, these guys are too foolish, they think the Chinese are country bumpkins and have never seen money.

In all fairness, if it is in China, the price is already sky-high.

But this is in the United States. Huang Jiacai is very familiar with the pharmaceutical and medical device market. He is familiar with some of the more famous patent transactions and lawsuits. He hardly needs to prepare homework for this negotiation.

Huang Jiacai took a piece of paper and a pen on the desk, and wrote on the paper the patent transaction cases and patent litigation cases of orthopedic devices in the United States in the past three years.

"Look, Mr. Thorin, these are similar transactions in the last three years. This is your annual revenue in the children and adolescent sports medicine market. Which one should you refer to for the price you just offered? Rick, a spinal surgeon in Indiana Sasso and Medtronic, the medical device giant, because of the dispute over the patent royalties of the Vertex cervical spine system, Medtronic paid Dr. Rick Sasso US$1.12 million in patent fees." Huang Jiacai was not polite.

Thorin's face instantly turned red.

"Dr. Yang's equipment has a much larger market space than the Vertex cervical spine system. It will help you occupy the entire children and adolescent sports medicine market, and can also open up a part of the adult sports medicine market. Moreover, around this curve drill, you can also develop To produce a set of traumatic orthopedic equipment, just use the Vertex cervical spine system as a reference, and the authorization fee will not be a mere 200 million US dollars per year. For these guys, he is very confident and has a strong psychological quality. He is good at negotiating.

Sorin blushed briefly, and immediately said: "No, you can't look at it this way. If we can't cooperate, these patents of yours will not reflect their due value. When you return to China, these patents will be very cheap, or even shelved. The inner core in the curved drill bit cannot be produced with China's processing technology level."

He did talk about the pain point, because the inner core requires too much precision and domestic manufacturers cannot process it. Yang Ping was afraid of waste, so he was willing to authorize it to the Americans, otherwise he would have found a domestic manufacturer to cooperate with.

Helpless, I have found cooperation with domestic manufacturers, and they have offered hundreds of thousands of dollars, but they still ignore it.

That's why Yang Ping plans to sell it to an American company. He needs to get a sum of money first, and then he can make other plans after he has the money.

As for the technical route of this set of equipment, he also left behind. If one day, a domestic manufacturer is willing to cooperate in production, he can redesign an upgraded version and bypass his own patent.

"Mr. Sorin, you are wrong. The children's orthopedic consumables market is currently a blue ocean, but Stryker, Smith & Nephew, Johnson & Johnson, etc., almost all giants, have already begun to deploy. You are in danger, but you don't know it. I I am surprised for your slowness. To tell you the truth, it is not your family who are interested in our equipment. Due to commercial confidentiality, I cannot disclose more information, but I still remind you kindly that these giants, no matter who Getting the authorization of our equipment is a huge blow to OrthoPediatricS."

Huang Jiacai took out his ticket to the Stryker headquarters in Kalamazoo, Michigan and placed it on his desk.

"This is my air ticket to Kalamazoo two days ago. I don't need to say the purpose of the trip. It is a commercial secret. We will talk to you because you focus on children's orthopedic implants and will do better than them. It’s a pity that you don’t realize their value, so we can only settle for the next best thing. By the way, tell Mr. Sorin two pieces of information. First, we are not short of money. You can learn a little about Dr. Yang this time. The commission for the operation can prove this information, and second, friends in Kalamazoo know more about the goods than you, and negotiating with you, in our Chinese language, contains a touch of emotion."

Huang Jiacai cadenced and took his time, thinking: the lawyer and the patent specialist are sitting opposite each other. This is a formal team. The board of directors did not hold a meeting, so there is no way to send out such a team.

Lao Cheng looked at the air ticket on the table, with a confused expression on his face, this kid, didn't he go to investigate, when will he negotiate the patent matter, this tricky ability, he didn't blush all the time, just like the real thing.

If Lao Cheng didn't know his situation, he really thought what he said was true.

"The annual exclusive licensing fee of 2000 million US dollars can be paid for one year for the first time, and once a year. You must know that for other manufacturers, we require the first payment for five years, and then every five years. If you agree, sign the contract today. If you agree, we don't need to talk anymore."

Huang Jiacai put away the air ticket on the desk. He knew the size of OrthoPediatricS, so he couldn't ask for too high a price.

Sorin stood up: "Wait, I'll make a call, give me 10 minutes."

After 10 minutes, Sorin came back again: "Deal!"

"Deal!" Huang Jiacai shook hands with him.

This set of equipment is ready-made, and it can be produced with blueprints, but it has opened up a new market, which is simply a cash cow. This price is the psychologically acceptable price of OrthoPediatricS.

Sorin reported to the company, and the CEO replied directly: Take it!
The company's board of directors discussed the transaction price and drew a range.

(End of this chapter)