Pharmaceutical Negotiator - Chapter 2

The next day, the sky was completely clear, the temperature was around 17 or 18 degrees Celsius, but there was still a slight breeze in the air, so it wasn’t stuffy.

Zhang Sitan was still wearing thermal leggings under her suit trousers, but her upper body was dressed as if summer had suddenly arrived, in a beige silk shirt that was slightly sheer, yet contoured her figure alluringly. She had slicked her hair back with some essential oil, and spritzed a little perfume behind her ear.

Normally, at this time, she would have finished her run outside and returned. But with her job, she often travels for business and doesn’t have a fixed location. She usually doesn’t exercise on the second day after arriving at a business trip location, preferring to stay in the hotel to adapt to the new city and sort out her upcoming work tasks.

Zhang Sitan sat on the edge of the bed. The bed faced the hotel’s glass window, and the thick curtains blocked the light completely. She walked over and pulled the curtain open slightly, leaving a small gap, allowing a faint yellow light into the room.

Her phone rang with a soft, melodic Thai song, “edy.” She answered the phone, and the voice of her colleague, Li Hao, came through.

Li Hao joined the agency in the same batch as Zhang Sitan. She was a Ph.D. from Huazhong University of Science and Technology, but she had never led a team. Now, both of them were competing for the director position. Zhang Sitan definitely wouldn’t show her emotions, but Li Hao’s words were always slightly barbed, although they never had a direct conflict.

“Sitan, you’re now leading the big team. Let me take over the project with Qidong Pharmaceuticals for you.”

Zhang Sitan heard the voice on the phone and twisted her mouth slightly. Only Li Hao would directly poach a project like this.

Li Hao was not a bad person, actually. She had a high academic degree, and her career prospects in the Healthcare Security Administration were excellent. It’s just that her emotional intelligence was not quite high enough, and she wasn’t very good at handling social situations. Zhang Sitan only had a bachelor’s degree.

and one that some companies didn’t even recognize because she had taken the adult college entrance examination two years into her career. The fact that she could stand on the same competitive ground as Li Hao, despite this, made it understandable why Li Hao was always at odds with her.

“Haohao, that’s just a small project aimed at children. Besides, I’m already well acquainted with Qidong’s general manager. Suddenly replacing me would make our Healthcare Security Administration seem insincere.”

It was indeed a small project, and Li Hao knew it. She didn’t even need to form a team; she could negotiate it alone. But she had no tasks on hand, so she could only eye this small piece of meat.

“Look at you, getting carried away just because you’re leading a big project, aren’t you? I’m very familiar with this project, too. If you give it to me, you won’t lose anything, and I can help lighten your load. That’s a winwin.”

Zhang Sitan still wouldn’t budge. It wasn’t that simple. The project was under her name, and whether it succeeded or failed, it was her reputation on the line.

Li Hao continued talking on the phone, spewing nothing more than provoking words towards Sitan. Finally, she muttered, “Do you even know English?”

Zhang Sitan listened to the phone call, her face expressionless, not responding to the jabs.

She changed the subject: “Haohao, you should really ask Director Zhang if he can assign some projects to you.”

Director Zhang was the deputy director of the Healthcare Security Administration, and he often mentored them.

“I’m not like you, so good at flattery, saying what people want to hear…”

Li Hao wanted to continue her rant, but Zhang Sitan knew her lines by heart. She quickly cut in: “Haohao, I have a lot of things to do here. I’m hanging up now, okay?”

After speaking, she paused for two or three seconds, making sure the other party had a reaction, before hanging up.

As soon as she hung up, Zhang Sitan flopped onto the bed with a thump, her arms outstretched, looking at the sliver of light leaking through the small gap in the curtains.

The light cast a small, bright strip on the floor. Everything else was in shadow, the dark floor spreading out. Zhang Sitan let out a heavy sigh.

Li Hao called her flattering. Zhang Sitan didn’t know how to respond to that.

She was indeed a bit more worldly. Just yesterday, she prepared three gifts for her new assistant, even though she only planned to give one watch.

Leaving aside the fact that negotiation itself requires careful planning to achieve maximum effectiveness, Zhang Sitan felt that she wasn’t wrong for being able to make everyone happy and handle matters pleasantly with just a few nice words and an appropriate gift.

Furthermore, the word “flattery” was too harsh. She had never fawned over anyone beneath her or above her. She was just better at social graces, more thoughtful.

Zhang Sitan admitted she was smooth, admitted she wasn’t pure. As a small undergraduate from a pharmacy school, she managed to gain a foothold in the Healthcare Security Administration and lead her own negotiation team. This wasn’t achieved by just being smooth.

Her high school grades were excellent. If she could have taken the college entrance exam and if she had the money to support her studies, she wouldn’t constantly be questioned by Li Hao why a third rate undergraduate deserved to be in the Healthcare Security Administration, why she got to lead a team.

There was no “why.” She was just a little more worldly and smooth, always able to take good care of the emotions of those around her. She was just a bit more reckless, running around to pharmaceutical factories in high heels until her legs gave out, just to get a report, leading to two weeks of Achilles tendonitis. And when Li Hao was arguing unreasonably with Director Zhang, she didn’t get emotional but delivered a solution that satisfied the counterparty. Consequently, Director Zhang would assign the next project to her, not Li Hao.

“The clearest water has no fish, the most discerning person has no followers.” Zhang Sitan looked at the small patch of light on the floor, calm like a boundless ocean, grand enough to encompass everything.

No one doesn’t want to be the light. But the standard resources that ordinary people have parents, education some people just don’t have them. Some people can only be the dark floor beside the light.

This world doesn’t just have light, and it can’t only have light.

Having finished her breakfast, Zhang Sitan slung her large leather bag over her shoulder and waited at the hotel entrance for Qi An to pick her up.

The leather bag was black, not branded, a $30 find at a market. But it was very sturdy, having lasted since her student days, and the leather still looked good. Besides cosmetics, tissues, and a water bottle, Zhang Sitan had also stuffed a large stack of documents into the bag. She stood there, bag slung across her body, fixedly watching the Mercedes drive towards her.

Yesterday, when she saw the Mercedes, she wondered what color it was. If you called it grey, it sparkled purple in the sun. If you called it purple, the color leaned a bit towards ‘grandma grey.’

The sun shone on the car, making the purple more pronounced. It stopped abruptly in front of Zhang Sitan. A person got out of the purple car, still wearing yesterday’s green, but the hoodie had become a short-sleeved T-shirt, and her hair was tied up in a small bun with a rubber band.

It had rained yesterday, and the standing water on the ground had long evaporated, but the soil in the flower beds in front of the hotel was still damp.

A large cluster of tulips, yellow and red separated, was planted in the flower bed, shimmering like amber in the light. The air was fresh after the rain. Zhang Sitan could feel the scent of her perfume behind her ear dispersing, now tinged with the fragrance of tulips.

She heard the young girl in front of her call out: “Sister Sitan.”

The slightly dazzling sunlight streamed over the car roof. Zhang Sitan squinted, nodded at Qi An, and got into the car.

Outside the car window, tall buildings of grey brick and white tile stood high, with a row of white-painted solar panels on the roof facing south. The sky was a pale, gentle blue, tinged with grey, very elegant and soft.

Zhang Sitan sat in the back seat, leaning slightly back, her forearm resting on her large leather bag.

A small row of green trees stood far away, their leaves rustling. Zhang Sitan rolled down the window slightly, enjoying the breeze from the street.

The drug negotiation process generally consists of four steps. First, the specific drugs to be negotiated and the submitting companies must be determined. Then, the qualifications of these companies are reviewed. The next step is the actual on-site negotiation phase, where prices are continuously cut, like what is shown on TV. The final step is signing the agreement and publishing the notification on relevant websites.

Among these steps, the most crucial is the corporate review, where relevant pharmaceutical experts and even legal advisors are brought in to maneuver with the pharmaceutical factory or international counterparts. The confidence and leverage in the negotiation table also come from this process.

Zhang Sitan was now on her way to the pharmaceutical factory for the review. Originally, a clinical expert was supposed to accompany her, but due to an important observation surgery, the person would be delayed by a few days. So, for the time being, Zhang Sitan was just going to have a preliminary look around.

The weather today was perfect for taking pictures bright and clean.

Zhang Sitan noticed the watch she had given Qi An yesterday on her left wrist. As her arm moved the steering wheel, a flash of green darted in her pupil, just like the flawless sky outside.

Qi An didn’t speak, and Zhang Sitan wasn’t bothered to start a conversation.

She had already moved on from the unpleasant phone call earlier. Her emotions came and went quickly.

She took the documents out of her bag and placed them on her lap, reading them page by page.

The drug being negotiated this time was $beta$ injection for Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA). It had even better safety evaluation results than the Nusinersen Sodium Injection introduced by the American company Biogen a few years ago. It was one of the Class B drugs the country wanted to introduce for muscle atrophy, in a dual approach.

Qi An’s mother’s pharmaceutical company, Taiyong Pharmaceutical, was a private enterprise. It stood out from numerous pharmaceutical companies and was very willing to work with the Healthcare Security Administration to take on this giant project.

Zhang Sitan’s task was to assist Taiyong Pharmaceutical in negotiating the price of disodium water with the German company, Erle, and then have the pharmaceutical factory purify the anhydrous disodium hydrogen phosphate one of the components of the injection to reduce manufacturing costs to some extent.

This way, when they actually negotiated with the rights holder of the $beta$ injection, the German company Senburg Pharmaceuticals, they would have a significant advantage.

The car stopped in front of the pharmaceutical factory. Zhang Sitan didn’t wait for Qi An to open the door; she pushed it open herself and got out.

Qi Shenli and her entourage were already standing at the entrance to greet her. Seeing Zhang Sitan get out of the car, she took two steps forward and shook Zhang Sitan’s hand.

Zhang Sitan shook her hand back and lightly embraced her shoulder in that posture.

“Long time no see, General Manager Qi.”

“Indeed. You’re still as beautiful as ever,” Qi Shenli said with a smile on her face. She was wearing a brown trench coat, her dark brown hair neatly tied back.

“General Manager Qi is the same, still so elegant. The stand-up collar of this trench coat particularly suits your long neck,” Zhang Sitan said, her eyes fixed on Qi Shenli, her voice as gentle as ever.

Qi Shenli unconsciously touched the back of her neck, her words full of delight: “Haha, you always know what to say.”

Zhang Sitan also smiled and walked side by side with Qi Shenli towards the building.

Qi An had been standing behind them. Seeing them walk into the factory, she started to follow.

Qi Shenli turned back and glared at her: “Grab Sitan’s bag!”

Only then did Qi An notice that Zhang Sitan wasn’t carrying her bag. She hastily opened the car door and saw the large black leather bag on the back seat.

Zhang Sitan glanced at her, frowning internally just as expected, an untrained child.

But her eyes remained curved into a smile as she looked at Qi Shenli: “General Manager Qi, how can you bear to let your daughter do the work of an assistant?”

“Oh, well,” Qi Shenli smiled, no longer paying attention to Qi An behind her, walking alongside Zhang Sitan.

“She has to gain some real-world experience, doesn’t she? How can she not know anything? She can’t even manage to carry a bag.”

Zhang Sitan gently pouted: “How can you say that? This child is quite earnest; she’s someone who can achieve things.”

“Hahahaha,” Qi Shenli laughed softly, waving her hand, and said no more.

Zhang Sitan knew Qi Shenli was tacitly agreeing, after all, what parent wouldn’t want to hear good things about their child?

Zhang Sitan caught Qi An in her peripheral vision. The light streamed down from the sky, a faint green in the hazy light and shadow, like creamy matcha ice cream.

The group arrived at the factory building. A man around thirty years old, following Qi Shenli, handed out shoe covers to everyone. After putting on the shoe covers, Zhang Sitan followed the group into the factory building.

The factory was very large, with high ceilings, and bulky, dark machines lined the center. Zhang Sitan thought the windows were too small, letting in too little light, making it feel oppressive.

There weren’t many workers in the factory, all wearing white coats and shoe covers, standing in a line.

Machines hummed in the background, and a thick pipe was wrapped around one side of the wall. The ceiling fans swung back and forth, making a creaking sound like old wood.

The lead worker in the white coat, a man about forty with a somewhat lean figure, shook hands with Zhang Sitan.

Qi Shenli introduced him to Zhang Sitan: “This is Manager Liu, our factory manager. He manages all the machinery in this factory.”

Zhang Sitan nodded: “Hello, Manager Liu.”

The man called Manager Liu made a welcoming gesture: “Our pharmaceutical factory now uses fully automated drug manufacturing, primarily a one-stop system for conveying, dispensing, and packaging. Of course, the reagent preparation still requires manual oversight.”

Manager Liu introduced the machinery while guiding Zhang Sitan through the tour. Zhang Sitan got a general understanding and asked: “Besides familiarizing myself with the factory’s situation, I’ve also come specifically because I’ve heard about the ‘red pill.’ I was fortunate enough to attend your factory’s product launch previously. Could you show me the final form of the red pill?”

Manager Liu probably didn’t expect Zhang Sitan to suddenly switch the topic. He looked at Qi Shenli.

Qi Shenli smiled, interjecting between the two, and said with a laugh: “Of course, no problem. But the medicine is currently in the cold storage, and now isn’t the best time to open it up. Next time you visit, Sitan, I’ll definitely have Manager Liu take it out for you to see.”

Zhang Sitan smiled lightly: “Oh, that’s fine. It was inconsiderate of me to ask without notice.”

“Not at all, not at all. We understand. After all, we’re the only ones on the market with this pill right now,” Qi Shenli lifted her head, a hint of pride in her expression.

The group continued to look around, chatting about various things, until it was lunchtime.

Qi Shenli insisted Zhang Sitan stay for lunch: “Just the staff canteen. Nothing grand, just home-style cooking.”

Zhang Sitan kept declining: “I’ve already troubled you all morning; I shouldn’t impose any further.”

Manager Liu on the side also urged her: “Sitan, are you afraid of violating regulations? Our dishes are prepared exactly as the staff usually eats; they definitely don’t exceed the standards.”

“Exactly, Sitan, please stay. Do it for me. We’ll have An send you back after you eat.”

Seeing that she truly couldn’t decline, Zhang Sitan nodded, saying to Qi Shenli in a slightly playful tone: “Alright, since you insist. I just hope it won’t be too much trouble for everyone.”

“No trouble at all, no trouble.”

Upon arriving at the canteen, Zhang Sitan finally experienced the scale of a large enterprise.

The earlier factory building felt somewhat confined due to the machinery. The small windows made the room seem dark.

The canteen, however, was built very brightly, with large rectangular windows. Outside were tall sycamore trees. Looking out, the windows seemed to be imbued with greenery.

Zhang Sitan followed Qi Shenli into the elevator. Qi Shenli pressed the number four. The elevator slowly ascended.

Zhang Sitan glanced at the elevator buttons. There were a total of five numbers.

A five-story canteen was indeed extravagant.

When she reached the fourth floor, Zhang Sitan regretted staying.

The dining area was filled with large round tables, like in a hotel, covered with silk tablecloths and a large revolving tray in the center.

This was hardly the standard for staff; staff don’t eat at a hotel every day.

Zhang Sitan helplessly looked at Qi Shenli, changing her address “Sister Qi, let’s just eat casually, please don’t let it exceed the standards.”