I See through Everything

Chapter 247: Chapter 136: Fermentation

He Youwei’s eyes were full of stars.

"The third problem is that your formula doesn’t account for a crucial factor: suppressing some gene targets related to immunity will cause certain allergies to become more severe."

"Some gene targets related to immunity cannot be completely suppressed. Take ultraviolet light, for instance. With lupus, UV exposure triggers an allergic reaction because the immune system is overreacting. However, if you suppress that response entirely, UV light will still trigger an allergic reaction, but this time it’s because other genes sense the danger from the UV rays."

He Youwei’s expression grew grave, and she sighed softly. "Life is so complex. The slightest change can set off a chain reaction."

Jiang Miao sat down. Shuya massaged his shoulders and said with a smile, "Medicine is all about finding a balance between risk and reward. Sometimes side effects are unavoidable. Our job is to strike a balance between the drug’s efficacy and its side effects—to let the medicine do its job while minimizing the adverse reactions."

"I understand!" He Youwei nodded as well.

Jiang Miao continued his explanation.

Just explaining the new plan took up the entire afternoon, but it was necessary for He Youwei to fully grasp the reasoning behind increasing or decreasing each component. It was essentially a one-on-one tutorial.

That evening, He Youwei’s treatment officially began.

The Immune Reconstitution Potion, composed of 13 natural and synthetic ingredients, was formulated into three pills.

He Youwei took the three pills before going to bed.

「The next morning.」

When she woke up, she didn’t feel anything unusual. However, she was well aware that this was only a half dose. It was just for initial stimulation and adaptation. This would continue for a half-month transition period, after which she could take the full dose. Six months on the full dose would complete the stimulation of the gene targets and achieve immune reconstruction. After that, she wouldn’t need the full dose anymore; a half dose would be sufficient.

Of course, when she got her period, the dosage would need to be adjusted to 0.75 and supplemented with a drug to regulate estrogen, which would suppress its disruptive effects on her immune system.

And she would have to take the medication for the rest of her life.

However, compared to the glucocorticoids, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and immunosuppressants she had taken before, her current medication had very minor side effects. The only two noticeable ones were a drop in blood potassium levels and dehydration.

The former could be managed by eating more bananas and potatoes, or simply by switching to low-sodium salt.

The latter was due to the drug slightly affecting water reabsorption in the renal tubules. Dehydration could be avoided by maintaining a daily water intake of over 2,500 milliliters.

Compared to the side effects of glucocorticoids, these two were practically nothing.

Moreover, on the new medication, He Youwei wouldn’t have to be so strict with her diet, avoid sunlight, or suffer from joint pain and reduced stamina in her daily life.

Back in the laboratory, Jiang Miao checked on her condition.

"There are no obvious side effects. For now, stick to this dosage."

He Youwei made a request. "Sir, would it be alright if I brought my younger brother here?"

"You want to create a custom medication for him?"

"Yes, sir. Ever since I got sick, I’ve had to endure strange looks from my classmates all through my childhood. I don’t want my brother to go through the same thing." He Youwei seemed to be recalling unpleasant memories from elementary and middle school.

Jiang Miao had no objection to her wanting to treat her brother. "Of course. Bring him here. Having another observational subject will be helpful for when you develop a lupus drug in the future."

"Thank you, sir!" He Youwei quickly expressed her gratitude.

As for developing a broad-spectrum miracle drug for lupus, He Youwei knew it wouldn’t be that simple.

Everyone’s genetic makeup is unique. To create a broad-spectrum drug, they would need to accumulate a sufficient number of genetic samples from patients.

Giving another patient the version of the drug customized for He Youwei might work, but it could also trigger severe side effects or even be counterproductive.

This was the current limitation of targeted gene therapy. While highly effective, it was only applicable to a very narrow range of patients.

If they continued to rely on one-on-one customized treatments like He Youwei’s, 99.9% of patients would never have access to it.

Jiang Miao might have made creating a miracle drug look easy, but the underlying costs were astronomical.

Full-genome sequencing alone cost over ten thousand yuan, and it wasn’t covered by medical insurance. To make matters worse, public hospitals outsourced this service, which could make obtaining the genetic sequence data from the testing agency a real hassle.

And having the full genome sequence was just the beginning.

It required an expert who understood genetics, pharmacology, and nutrition to analyze the genome and design a custom drug. And because the medication was custom-made, it could only be synthesized in small batches in a laboratory.

Currently, the only person who understood genetic principles and was also an expert in pharmacology and nutrition was Jiang Miao. Lin Shuya and He Youwei were merely novices, completely incapable of performing the genetic analysis and drug customization on their own.

When all was said and done, the cost was incalculable.

After all, Jiang Miao couldn’t possibly treat every lupus patient. He wasn’t a resident physician at a hospital, he wasn’t licensed to practice medicine, and he didn’t have the time or energy.

Therefore, developing a broad-spectrum drug was the key.

That task now fell to He Youwei. She had the resources and connections to collect blood samples from lupus patients across the country. In the future, she could even conduct the relevant clinical trials at Peking Union Medical College Hospital.

Jiang Miao just needed to supervise her work.

「Meanwhile, at Busan Port in South Korea.」

At West Yuan Group’s eel farm, the first batch of eel fry had finally hatched.

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