Chapter 108 United Front

"What project?" Acton asked with some curiosity.

"Bexorg."

Acton's hand paused on her cup, unmoving. "The company that does isolated human brain experiments?"

"You know about it?" Mu Xin asked in return.

"It was reported in Science magazine last week. Over seven hundred human brains, five years, the BrainEx system." Acton's tone was calm.

"And the collaboration between that company and Biohaven. The FDA has already approved the clinical trials they are conducting based on Bexorg's data."

"I come from a public health background; it's impossible for me to miss news like that." Acton set down her cup and looked at Mu Xin. "Why are you interested in this project?"

Mu Xin didn't answer immediately. He picked up his hot chocolate and took another sip.

"It's not that I'm interested in this project." He finally spoke, his voice low. "It's the Governor."

Mu Xin sold out the Governor directly, but he believed Acton wouldn't spread it, as it held no meaning or value for her.

Acton's eyebrows twitched slightly, her expression unchanged, but Mu Xin noticed a shift in her eyes.

"Are you saying Governor DeWine asked you to invest in Bexorg?" Acton confirmed.

"He needs me to invest in this company." Mu Xin's speaking pace was slow. "It's not a suggestion; it's a demand."

Acton was silent for a few seconds. "Why?"

"His son." Mu Xin's voice dropped even lower. "He was diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson's disease last year."

Acton's pupils constricted slightly. She pulled her phone from her pocket, glanced at the screen, and then placed it face down on the table.

"Mr. Mu, do you know what you are telling me?" Acton's voice was very low.

"You are telling me that a Republican Party Governor wants to invest in a biotechnology company that conducts isolated human brain experiments through a Chinese international student."

"And that this company's technology can be used to test new drugs for Parkinson's disease."

"And you came to me, his political opponent, to vet this project."

"I know." Mu Xin's tone was calm. "That's why I didn't say it over the phone."

"Besides, Governor DeWine is about to turn eighty. He is no longer your opponent; he is just a father worried about his son."

Acton leaned back in her chair and sighed. "Mr. Mu, do you know what I'm most worried about?"

"What?" Mu Xin was taken aback. Why did all these politicians like asking these questions?

"Governor DeWine's mind." Acton's tone didn't sound like she was joking.

"He is seventy-nine years old this year and will leave office in a few months, and his son has been diagnosed with early-stage Parkinson's disease."

"His current state is not that of a Governor; it is the state of a father."

"A father will do anything to save his son."

"Are you afraid he will go to extremes?" Mu Xin asked.

"It's not that I'm afraid he will go to extremes." Acton shook her head. "It's that he is already going to extremes."

"Just think about it: a Governor about to retire asks you to invest in a company that does isolated human brain experiments."

"This matter itself is already extreme."

Mu Xin leaned back in his chair, looking at the street outside the window.

The sun was bright, and there weren't many people on the street. A young mother pushing a stroller walked past the window, followed by a Labrador.

He took a breath. "Ms. Acton, I have a question I want to ask you."

"What is your take on this project?"

Acton didn't answer immediately. She picked up her hot chocolate and took a sip. "Do you want to hear my opinion as a public health expert, or as a gubernatorial candidate?"

"I want to hear both." Mu Xin thought for a moment and said.

"As a public health expert, Bexorg's technology is inherently valuable." She spoke slowly. "The failure rate for drug development for neurodegenerative diseases exceeds ninety-five percent."

"Animal models are inaccurate, cell models are too simple; a drug that works perfectly in mice often fails miserably when it enters human clinical trials."

"Bexorg's BrainEx platform uses isolated human brains to test drugs, which can capture side effects and evaluate drug efficacy in advance."

"The drug they are collaborating on with Biohaven requires a dose twenty times lower in human brains than what was calculated from mice."

"This means that if the medication were administered according to the mouse experiment dosage, patients might face severe toxic side effects."

"So, from a technical perspective, this platform can indeed help pharmaceutical companies save money, save time, and save lives."

Acton paused and picked up her cup for another sip.

"But from an ethical perspective—"

"It's troublesome." Mu Xin said for her.

"It's not troublesome." Acton shook her head. "It's a hot potato."

"This company has studied over seven hundred human brains in five years, each one taken from a deceased donor."

"Within hours of the donor's death, they connect these brains to an artificial circulatory system, use anesthetics to suppress electrical activity, and keep the brain in a state of 'neither alive nor dead'."

"Then they test drugs on it and observe the drugs' reactions in the cells. Twenty-four hours later, this brain is cut into hundreds of tissue samples."

"Tell me, is this right or wrong?"

Mu Xin didn't answer. He felt this wasn't something that could be clearly defined as right or wrong; it was fucking anti-human!

"There is no right or wrong." Acton answered herself. "Only what is defensible and what is not."

"Bexorg is defensible because they have an ethics committee, informed consent from families, and FDA approval."

"They are legally compliant and technically valuable."

"But they are indefensible because this matter itself makes people uncomfortable."

"Over seven hundred human brains, taken out of bodies, connected to tubes, fed drugs, and sliced."

"This image, placed in anyone's mind, will produce an instinctive discomfort."

"Voters won't care how advanced your technology is, or how authoritative your ethics committee is; they will only feel that this is wrong."

"And if I were exposed to have any connection to such a project during my campaign—"

"You would be completely finished." Mu Xin said.

"Yes." Acton nodded. "Completely finished."

Acton looked out the window. "Mr. Mu, if you ask me, as a gubernatorial candidate, whether this project should be invested in, my answer is no."

"Not because the technology isn't good, but because the political cost is too high."

"What about you?" Acton turned her head to look at Mu Xin. "As an investor, what do you think?"

"Ms. Acton, I don't want to invest either." Mu Xin weighed his words. "Not because of the political cost, but because of my own issues."

"What issues?"

"I don't like what this company does." Mu Xin's voice sounded a bit strained. "A brain taken out of a body, connected to tubes, fed drugs, and sliced."

"I know they have an ethics committee, family consent, and FDA approval, and there are no legal issues."

"But over seven hundred brains, each one has a person behind it, with family, friends, and a lifetime of memories and emotions."

"Taking a person's brain out of their body, keeping it in a machine for twenty-four hours, and then cutting it into pieces."

"This matter, the education I've received makes me unable to accept it."

Acton looked at him, silent for a few seconds.

Not the kind of scrutiny a politician gives an opponent, but the silence after watching a living person stand before her and speak a truth.

"Mr. Mu, these words you said, if placed in any campaign debate, would be taken out and used as positive material." Acton said.

"I'm not saying pretty words." Mu Xin shook his head. "I really can't get past it."

"I know." Acton nodded.

"Ms. Acton, there is one more thing." Mu Xin tapped his fingers lightly on the table. "There is another reason why Governor DeWine asked me to invest in Bexorg."

"What reason?"

"He said this company needs a foreigner because American investors dare not touch this project. It's not that the technology isn't good, it's that it's politically incorrect."

"But I am a foreigner; no one cares about how I feel."

"Then do you mind?"

"To say I don't mind at all would be a lie." Mu Xin picked up his hot chocolate and took a sip.