Before 2002, Lu Yong was an ordinary businessman. He left his state-owned foreign trade company two years ago to start a business in Wuxi. A small Zhensheng Knitwear Co., Ltd. is his home.
Like all ordinary people, Lu Yong doesn't have any big dreams. He worked hard and paid attention to credibility, which won public praise. He hopes that the company's business will be smooth and his family will be happy and healthy. But in 2002, fate hit him hard.
Everything is not without warning. In the past six months, Lu Yong has been feeling ill. Although there are no obvious symptoms, he is weak and very tired. When I wake up at night, my pillow towel is wet with night sweats, and my clothes are sticky and uncomfortable. Moreover, people are getting thinner every day for no reason.
At first, Lu Yong thought that he was tired because of too much business in the company, but after a break, the situation was still not good. In August 2002, he went to the hospital for examination. A thunderbolt hit him and he was terminally ill.
Lu Yong couldn't believe his eyes, but the diagnosis was written in black and white as "Chronic Myeloid Leukemia". The doctor's attitude is calm and full of sympathy: "Do a bone marrow transplant as soon as possible, otherwise it may not last for several years."
Lu Yong wanted to cry. He is only 34 years old. Has life come to an end? It is not easy to do bone marrow transplantation, and it is too difficult to find a suitable match. Fortunately, the doctor told Lu Yong that a drug called Gleevec is very effective, which can improve the 5-year survival rate of patients from 50% to over 90%, and effectively control the disease.
Lu Yong hurried to buy Gleevec. He was dumbfounded when he saw the price. He has a box of medicine in his hand, which is very light and weightless. The price is 23,500 yuan. But saving his life is very important. He bought five boxes and took100000 from Cary.
The days of expensive life extension began. Every time he took out a small pill and swallowed it, Lu Yong felt that he was not taking medicine, but swallowing money. From August 2020 to June 2004, Lu Yong spent as much as 564,000 yuan on Gleevec.
2. From 2 1000 boxes to 20 1 box.
It's really desperate to sit on empty seats. Although Lu Yong dragged his sick body to run the company hard, the high cost of medicine still made him unbearable.
After learning about his illness, Lu Yong set up a QQ group to bring people from all over the world together to exchange their illness and support each other. The most talked about in the group is medicine.
For chronic myeloid leukemia, Gleevec was the most advanced drug at that time. As long as you take medicine regularly every day, you can control cancer cells, and life is no different from ordinary people. But it's too expensive, and few people in the group can afford it. Some people talk and talk, and their heads stop flashing. As soon as they asked, they left.
At this time, the group is silent, mourning for the deceased patients and worrying about their own fate. They can't afford medicine, so they have to wait for death.
By chance, Lu Yong heard that there was an Indian imitation of Gleevec, which had the same curative effect as Gleevec, but the price was only 4,000 yuan per box. Lu Yong, who was overwhelmed by the cost of medicine, immediately decided to buy a box to try.
It is inconvenient to go to India to buy medicine. Fortunately, a Japanese client I know in Lu Yong has this channel to help him get his medicine. After he tried to take it for two months, he found that all the indexes of his body were normal and the medicine was really effective!
In August 2004, Lu Yong shared the news with his patients, and the group suddenly exploded. Those who linger at the door of death finally see a glimmer of hope for survival.
Cross-border drug purchase procedures are cumbersome, and most people don't know how to communicate with Indian companies or how to send money to get drugs. Several patients asked Lu Yong to help them buy medicine, and Lu Yong agreed. I want to buy it myself anyway. Just buy more boxes. The drug effect is really good, and more and more people ask Lu Yong for help, because CML is in an urgent condition, and once it turns into a period of sudden change, the immortal will be hard to save.
With more buyers, Lu Yong bargained with Indian manufacturers. He knows that although the price of this generic drug is only a quarter of the genuine one, it costs thousands of dollars a month, and many patients still can't afford it. Lu Yong and the factory grinded again and again, from 4000 to 2000, and then to 800. Later, the group purchase price he got has dropped to about 200 yuan per box.
From 20,000 to 200, how much wealth did Lu Yong save for thousands of patients? How many people who can't afford Gleevec have continued their lives? He can't count, but in the patient's mind, he is already a life-saving "medicine god".
But unlike dying to survive, Lu Yong didn't make a profit for himself from the beginning. He helped to buy medicine, purely out of enthusiasm, and wanted to make some contributions to these people who were as sick as himself. He called himself a "medicine man", but he didn't expect that the act of being brave in his eyes would lead to jail.
3. The contest between law and emotion
In August of 20 13, Lu Yong walked home as usual and was greeted by a pair of cold handcuffs. He was taken to the public security bureau, and Lu Yong knew that he had broken the law.
Lu Yong didn't have a drug import registration certificate to buy Indian medicine, and Lu Yong bought a bank card with other people's information for the convenience of buying medicine. There was still 3 million in Cary when he was arrested, and the evidence was conclusive.
On July 20 14, he was accused of obstructing credit card management and selling counterfeit drugs. He was detained 135 days. He began to brush the bath in the detention center and lost contact with the patients in the group.
The patients inquired about Lu Yong everywhere, only to know that their benefactor was a fake drug dealer and was put in prison. They are anxious: "His fake medicine is not fake, don't we know?" "We took Lu Yong's medicine. Who should we buy it from?" The patients ran around and decided to write a letter jointly to keep their "drug god" out of trouble.
Lu Yong's 70-year-old mother went to the detention center to visit her son with tears in her eyes. She really doesn't know whether her son is a hero or a criminal.
Lu Yong was released because things got worse. But there is still no clear answer to this question.
Is Lu Yong a hero? But he did break the law. Why is Gleevec expensive? Because it has a patent and is protected by intellectual property rights. It looks like a small pill, but it took decades from research and development to publication, and pharmaceutical companies invested more than $5 billion. Buy cheap drugs at will. If pharmaceutical companies can't make money, will they have the financial and material resources to develop new drugs?
Just like genuine books and CDs, if they are stolen by thieves, singers, authors and manufacturers will be repeatedly infringed. In the long run, no one can buy genuine books.
So, is Lu Yong a criminal? The judgment of the procuratorate is: "If it is determined that Lu Yong's behavior constitutes a crime, it will violate the values of criminal justice for the people." The law is cold, but human feelings are warm. How can a card, a disc and a book be compared with a fresh life?
In the contest between law and emotion, Lu Yong was supported by many people. Someone left an emotional message: "Those who pay for everyone, don't freeze to death in the wind." He is not a drug god, but he did prolong many people's lives.
Fortunately, after Lu Yong regained his freedom, the patent period of Gleevec has expired, and it is no longer an unattainable high-priced drug for ordinary people. Lu Yong's condition also tends to be stable, and the company's business is booming. He once provided the Dutch royal family with 65,438+00,000 pairs of ceremonial gloves for the enthronement ceremony.
During the COVID-19 epidemic, Lu Yong went to India to buy thousands of goggles and N95 masks, which were shipped back to China the day before the Indian embargo and donated to hospitals.
He is still fighting bravely in his own way. May the world be less sick and warmer.