Chapter 212 - New Research

Due to the entirety of the Africa continent being on the brink of collapse, the World Health Organization spared no effort and permitted Chen Chen’s clinical trial without a second thought. The requisite for splitting the trial into four phases was bypassed and the four phases were hence combined into a single-phase clinical trial.

The phases referred to here concerned the testing period for the vaccine. In usual settings, it was a requirement for the vaccine to go through four experimental phases before being debuted in the market.

The first phase of the trial was to examine the safety of the vaccine and the maximum number of candidates allowed was ten people. After the group was injected with the vaccine, they would be monitored for several months. The second phase of the trial would begin after ensuring that the vaccine did not pose any harm to the human body.

In other words, the first phase of the trial only served to determine whether it was harmful to humans. It was only from the second phase onward where the trial was to examine the effectiveness of the vaccine.

For the third and fourth phase, the sample size as well as the observation period would be gradually increased. The procedures became stricter from these points onward as well.

On average, the clinical trials may take up to several years. In certain cases, some vaccines were not developed even after decades. However, there were certain outliers as well. For instance, it only took a year to develop a vaccine for the pandemic outbreak which occurred three years ago.

This was largely influenced by the situation worldwide. The speed at which a vaccine was developed directly correlated with the severity of the virus.

After all, the daily infected and death count in Africa ranged up to hundreds of thousands daily. If after going through all that effort of developing a vaccine, a clinical trial spanning over several years was still required, then there was no need to push the vaccine into the market after the trial had concluded. They were better off burning the vaccine as a sacrifice for the deceased brethren in Africa.

In critical times such as these, the clinical trial for the vaccine had to be conducted in a timely manner, the sooner the better. The World Health Organization even specifically assigned a note stating that even a vaccine slightly harmful to the human body was permitted.

This meant that it was acceptable even if Chen Chen were to develop a vaccine that posed a slight risk to the human body. The only thing that mattered was that the pandemic could be put to an end.

As news of Eco Science City developing the BE-006 vaccine began to spread throughout the world, countless people began averting their collective attention to Eco Science City.

Under Chen Chen’s appointment, the clinical trial was headed by Professor Bernhard. Additionally, the entirety of Eco Science City had suspended all other ongoing experiments as all of the resources available in the city were dedicated to the efforts of the clinical trial.

All in all, Chen Chen was very confident in the outcome of the vaccine. After all, it was a product based around the sum of the research of the Hive.

It should be pointed out that the Umbrella Corporation had been researching the Progenitor virus for three decades, even managing to develop the flowers. Factoring in the extreme genetic similarity between the BE-006 virus and the Progenitor virus, along with the technological level of the Hive, the chances of the vaccine failing was nil.

Therefore, after handing off the clinical trial project to Professor Bernhard, Chen Chen returned to the Spire laboratory and began researching the Progenitor virus.

“The Progenitor virus is said to be able to aid the evolution of mankind.”

At the present moment in the level-4 biosafety laboratory located in the Spire Experimental Base, Chen Chen was holding a blue test tube with a pensive expression. “However, it’s closer to a form of mutation than evolution.”

With that, he poured the liquid in the test tube into the human cell culture medium and began a silent observation.

Chen Chen was not the only one present in the laboratory. Hannibal and Li Lei’s team was with him.

There were several extremely intricate devices laying around the laboratory. These devices stood out like a sore thumb among the other devices as they were more like a product of science fiction.

These devices were equipment that Chen Chen had obtained from Resident Evil. With the addition of these devices, the biotechnology standards of the Spire laboratory was further enhanced.

It could even be said that the Spire laboratory had far surpassed the biotechnological standard of modern human civilization, ascending to new heights…

“Mr. Chen.”

After a while, Li Lei suddenly called out to him. “Please come take a look at this.”

Hearing the request, Chen Chen approached the electron microscope and looked at its display. He saw the cells in the medium begin to multiply rapidly like rolling bubbles in a kettle.

“The multiplication rate rose from a coefficient of 1 to 3, more than doubling its original rate.”

Li Lei said with a shadow of excitement, “Also, every time a cell breaks up, the length of its telomere hardly decreases. This is an exact match with the description of the information you brought back. This virus has the ability to enhance metabolism and extend lifespan!”

“Don’t be too optimistic.”

Chen Chen shook his head without the slightest inclination of feeling excited. “Don’t forget, these are the changes noted in an ideal, simulated environment inside the dish. If applied in real situations inside a regular human body instead of a dish, chances are the person might begin bleeding, similar to symptoms displayed upon contracting Ebola.”

“Due to factors concerning the immune system?” Li Lei put away his smile upon hearing this.

“That’s right, the symptoms are described in the information provided.”

Chen Chen put up the information on the display and noted. “A form of superantigen toxin is found in the Progenitor virus. If this virus was properly injected into the human body, the first thing that it does is to invade the human immune system, which includes lymphocytes, dendritic cells, and macrophages.

“Similar to the result displayed in the culture medium, upon infecting the human, the virus can triple the metabolism speed of the body. This in turn means that the body will exhaust a great amount of nutrition. The human body is simply unable to keep up with the consumption rate.”

“This means that the Progenitor virus is greatly flawed and not a good fit for our experiment.”

It was then when Li Lei reluctantly nodded.

“However, compared to the Progenitor virus, its relative products are different.”

Chen Chen suddenly changed his tone, squinting his eyes as he turned to the leech slices placed in a petri dish to the side. “If we can fuse part of the gene fragments of the leech with the Progenitor virus, we get the infamous T-virus.”

“That’s right, the T-virus is more refined than the Progenitor virus.”

Hannibal approached and flipped through the data while adding to Chen Chen’s statement. “The Progenitor virus is known to boost a human’s strength and speed. It’s even known to extend human lifespan, at the expense of a minuscule rate of success.

“Just like the BE-006, the chances of surviving a Progenitor virus infection barely exceeds ten percent. Even for the lucky ones who manage to survive, it’s not granted that the Progenitor virus may incite changes because the human body merely produced antibodies to negate the harm done by the virus.

“In conclusion, the Progenitor virus is far from perfect, it’s extremely flawed.

“However, the T-virus is different as it’s an improved variant of the Progenitor virus. Unlike the BE-006 which is a viral virus, it’s a mild form virus. It’s a long-term symbiosis device which integrates its genetic material into the chromosomes of the host cell.

“In this symbiosis period, the gene of the host cell undergoes changes as a result of the integration of the viral chromosome.”

Hannibal raised his head as he explained, “Simply put, a person who is infected by this virus will experience genetic reformation.”

With that, Li Lei frowned and asked, “Then why was it that the people infected by T-virus didn’t evolve but instead turned into zombies?”

“That is a product of failed evolution.”

Chen Chen answered, “The process of cultivating a being that’s able to synergize with the T-virus has to start from the zygote. This means that you have to infect a zygote with the T-virus, thus producing an enhanced being from the zygote. The only thing that can come out of directly infecting humans with the virus is a failed-evolution turned zombie.

“Of course, there are some exceptions.”

Chen Chen thought about it and added. “Maybe one or two lucky ones among millions of people can withstand the virus and obtain superpowers like Alice…”