The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency was the key, but at this moment, all I could think about was Andrea.
“And?”
“It’s not impossible,” Hugo said. “That’s the good news.”
“And the bad?”
“You’re going to have to be very boring about how you do it.”
“I can manage boring.”
“Off-label use in civilian trauma settings will need a humanitarian carve-out,” he said. “Strict protocols and tight supply chains.”
“That was always the plan.”
He studied me. “You’ve thought this through.”
“I have.”
“Good,” he said. “Still, you’ll take heat from the press. From inside your own company.”
“I know.”
“And the cuts?” he said. “You’re certain you can make them?”
“Already started. If Traumex stops being priced like a luxury product, something else has to give. The business won’t survive otherwise.”
Overpriced trauma meds. It was borderline criminal.I’d tell Andrea my plan when I found her. Maybe then she’dunderstand.
“You won’t be popular. Nobody likes redundancies.”
“I didn’t buy Novexia to be liked.”
He gave a dry laugh. “No. You bought it because you don’t like unfinished business.”
That landed closer to the bone than he probably intended. I felt my jaw tighten a fraction.
“The accident,” he said carefully.
I kept my eyes on the water, my leg tapping under the table.I could hear the screams, feel the blood on my fingers again.“Among other things.”
He was close enough to know without me spelling it out.
“All right,” he said. “I can’t promise you speed, but I can promise traction. Quiet meetings. A window.”
“That’s all I need.”
Hugo stood and hooked his jacket with his fingers. “For what it’s worth, I think you’re right. If the drug works the way you say it does—”
“It does.”
It saved lives. It should have savedhim.
“I know,” he said. “Miranda made me read the research papers. Twice.”
I nodded.
“One more thing,” he added, lowering his voice. “When this goes through, people will ask why you care so much.”
