Chapter One
I had my regular monthly meeting with my biggest client that morning, a consultant Doctor of medicine at the best training hospital in Central London. He was a friend as well since we started working together over ten years ago so it would be mixing a bit of pleasure with business as I would take him out for a nice lunch afterwards.
I had been a senior pharmaceutical rep for fifteen years now for GlaxoSmithKline, one of the largest drug companies in the world, so was doing well and enjoying a comfortable life.
He never usually kept me waiting but I understood how busy he was so it didn’t bother me if I had to wait around a bit. This meeting would be with his whole team which included all his medical students as well so an opportunity to carry out a bit of a presentation for them. I enjoyed meeting new students as they would be the future clients that I would follow over the years and build strong relationships with.
The presentation went well and after handing out all my usual gifts to the students I arranged to meet Jim at our usual restaurant where we both enjoyed the food and décor.
‘Alright Jim? You look at bit knackered, you been getting your eight hours?’
‘Not really at the moment, it’s always more busy at the hospital this time of year’
‘I wasn’t sure if you wanted a drink, but I’ll order us a couple now if you like’
‘Yeah, go on then but just the one as I have to get back to my students, they are all here today as you saw’
‘Yeah, they seem like a nice bunch, that blonde girl especially’
‘Yep, well I don’t really notice that sort of thing anymore, you know me, I’ve had enough trouble on that front with Susie so I try and keep it in my pants these days’
‘How’s things with Jill, she doing ok?’
‘Yeah, she’s fine. The kids are doing ok as well, little Mark is turning into quite a footie player’
‘Sounds good, my Michael likes to play a bit but I don’t think he’s good enough for the professional game. I think he knows it, which is good because I’d hate for him to fail, but fingers crossed for your boy then’
‘Listen Jim, after the meal I wanted to have a chat with you about something work related’
‘Yeah sure’
We ordered our usual and when we finished I looked at him to get his full attention,
‘You know I’ve been talking with Duncan from R&D at GSK House, he’s your old mate from med school, right?’
‘Yeah, we’re not so close anymore but we keep in touch. How’s he doing then?’
‘Good, well there’s something interesting that’s come up that he and I wanted to discuss with you, I want to arrange a meeting so we can go through it properly over a meal next week sometime?’
‘Sounds good. It’ll be good to see him again, I don’t think we’ve been for a meal since last year so ok, go ahead and set it up’
‘Drop me an email which evening next week will be good for you and I’ll let him know. Jim put your wallet away, when was the last time I let you pay for a meal?’
‘Oh sorry I forgot, you lead a charmed life John. Give my love to Jill and the boys’
‘Will do, same to Susie and your two’.
We met at a top London restaurant the following week as I wanted to show Jim a good time that night and as always he was late but eventually joined me and Duncan, his old friend from medical school. Duncan stood up and they greeted each other with a big hug which reminded me of what good friends they were at university.
‘Slow down guys we haven’t even ordered drinks yet’ I said jokingly
Dunk said, ‘this is my main man from back in the day, a legend in his own right’
Jim replied, ‘yeah well those were the days, you didn’t do too badly yourself mate. So how you keeping? Jess and the kids ok?’
‘Yeah everything’s as usual, Jess might be pregnant again but to be honest I hope not, she’s getting on a bit and you know it gets a bit risky at her age. What about you? You gonna stick with just the two, Michael and Sarah isn’t it?’
‘Michael and Jenny, but yes that’s it for me on that front, Susie agrees and like you say it’s risky at their age’
I stepped in, ‘Ok chaps, it’s all on the company tonight so order away and I’ll get the drinks in and the house red to go with the meal, or maybe something a bit more special, I’ll see what the waiter recommends’
We had a great meal and were chatting away for a few hours but I thought we better get down to business as that’s why I got them there.
‘Ok Jim, listen the reason me and Dunk arranged this meeting is that our company and Dunk’s team specifically have been working on a project that we would like to get you involved in at this stage’
I leant forward, ‘This is big Jim, Duncan’s team has been working on this for two years now and they have made a significant breakthrough, they believe they can reverse the progression of Multiple Sclerosis to such an extent that we can virtually call it a cure’
Jim looked at Duncan, ‘Is this right Dunk?’
‘Yep John is right, I mean there are still some issues that need to be ironed out but we have been approved by the MHRA, (Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency), to get a clinical trial underway hence this meeting. The longer we wait though the more chance they’ll be a leak from someone on our team and we might lose the edge to Pfizer as those bastards are always sniffing around’
‘Those Pfizer reps can be a pain in the ass. Ok, bring round all the paperwork to my office, arrange it with my secretary, Laura, she’s a good girl and can be trusted with this sort of thing. I need a week at least to go over everything but if it is what you say Duncan then congratulations are in order, certainly a career defining moment for you’
‘This will be a career defining moment for all of us Jim, you will be leading the most significant drug trial in recent years so we’re all going to come out of this well rewarded’
‘Well let’s not get ahead of ourselves John but I see what you mean. I knew you were always cut out for research Dunk, if it does actually work of course, clinical trials can throw up all sorts of unexpected issues that lab work doesn’t’
‘That’s why we need you on board now Jim, let’s get the ball rolling on this. I think you’ll find my lab results speak for themselves and I trust your judgment’
I looked at them both and said, ‘ok, good we’re all set to go, I’ll leave it to you Dunk to get all the paperwork over to Jim’s secretary then and if we can meet up in a week to finalize the details’
They both agreed and I felt elated as this could be the deal of my career and if it all went well it would certainly mean a very comfortable retirement. I had worked with Dr Jim Collins for over ten years now and as a leading consultant at a top medical school hospital his reputation was undisputable. He was also very loyal to Glaxo and myself, I think partly because we were a British Multinational Pharma company but mainly because we took very good care of him.
Although kickbacks are illegal and I would never try to bribe a senior doctor anyway but we did certainly fork out a lot for him over the years for speaking at events, consulting services, which included running clinical trials, meals, travel and more, it was part of the business but we were both aware where the line was drawn.
I was getting pressure from senior board members from within Glaxo that we needed to make an announcement on the MS project as Pfizer were breathing down our necks on it and also there was word that a leading Chinese company called Sinopharm Group was now onto it as well. I tried to explain to them that it is very hard to keep this kind of research totally secure now with all the tech and hackers out there but we had been careful.
That being said they wanted us out in front of it to make sure it was our patent that went through so they went over my head and an announcement was made by Duncan and his team that this research was underway and was looking very promising with clinical trials that would yield some definitive results within a year.
