Arthur Hailey - Strong Medicine

It was an impressive conclusion, as Celia admitted to herself. Sam clearly expressed the feeling of others when he said, "Thank you, Vince. I think you've made us all feel better.”

He eased his chair back from the table.”I don't believe we need any formal resolution. I am satisfied that it is perfectly safe to continue full speed ahead with Montayne, and I presume everyone else agrees.”

There were nods of assent from the other men. "Well," Sam said, "I guess that's everything. Now, if you'll all excuse me...”

"I'm sorry," Celia said, "but I'm afraid that isn't everything.”

Heads turned toward her. Sam said impatiently, "What is it?" "I'd like to ask Vince a question.”

"Well... if you must.”

Celia looked (town at notes she had made.”Vince, you stated that Montayne was not the cause of the three babies in Australia, France and Spain being born as 'vegetables'-babies, we ought to remember, who cannot move their limbs and lack normally functioning brains.”

If others were afraid of putting unpleasant truths into words, she decided, she would not be. Lord said, "I'm glad you were listening.”

She ignored the unpleasant tone and asked, "Since Montayne was not the cause of those deformities, what was?" "I thought I made clear it could be one of several, or even many, causes.”

She persisted, "But which one?" Lord said exasperatedly, "How do I know which one? It could have been a different cause in each case. All I know is, based on scientific judgment by experts on the spot, the cause was not Montayne.”

"So the truth is, no one knows with certainty what did damage those foetuses and cause the deformed births.”

The research director threw up his hands.”For God's sake, I've already said so! In different words, maybe, but-" "Celia," Sam interjected, "just what are you getting at?" "What I'm getting at," she answered, "is that despite everything Vince has said, I'm uncomfortable. No one knows. I'm still not satisfied. I'm having doubts.”

Someone asked, "What kind of doubts?"

"About Montayne.”

It was Celia's turn to survey the faces around her.”I have a feeling-if you like, call it instinct-that something is wrong, something we don't yet know about. Also that there are questions to which we ought to know the answers, but we don't.”

Lord sneered, "A woman's instinct, I suppose.”

She snapped, "What's wrong with that?" Sam ordered sharply, "Everybody cool it!" He told Celia, "If you have a suggestion, let's hear it.”

"My suggestion," she said, "is that we should delay the launching of Montayne.”

She was conscious of everyone in the room regarding her with incredulity. Sam's lips had tightened.”Delay for how long, and precisely why?" Celia said deliberately and carefully, "I suggest a postponement of six months. In that time there may be no more instances of defective births. Or there could be. I hope it doesn't happen, but if it does there could be information we do not have now, and which would give us, perhaps, greater confidence to proceed with Montayne.”

There was a shocked silence which Sam broke.”You can't be serious.”

"I am very serious.”

She met his eyes directly. When she came here she had been uncertain of her own feelings. She had been uneasy-but with ambivalence. Now she was ambivalent no longer because, far from reassuring her, Vincent Lord's emphatic certainty-too much certainty!-had reinforced her doubts. And yes, she admitted to herself in taking the stand she had just declared, she was relying on her instincts, and little more. But her instincts had been right before. Celia knew there was a difficult task ahead of her to convince the others, with Sam the most important. But they had to be convinced. They must be persuaded that it was now in everyone's best interest to delay Montayne's American debut-in the interest of pregnant women who might take the drug and have their babies endangered; of the company, Felding-Roth; and of all of them here who were responsible for what the company did. "Do you have any idea, " Sam was asking, still shocked, "what a delay in launching Montayne would involve?" "Of course I do!" Celia let her own voice take on an edge.”Who would know better than me? Has anyone been more involved with Montayne than I have?" "No," Sam said.”That's why what you're saying is so unbelievable.”

"It's also why you can be sure I'm not making the suggestion lightly.”

Sam turned toward Seth Feingold.”What do you estimate it would cost us to delay Montayne?" The elderly comptroller looked uncomfortable. He was Celia's friend. Also he was out of his depth where scientific matters were concerned and plainly wished he were not involved. Bill Ingram, too, appeared discomfited; Celia sensed that Bill was torn by inner conflicts-loyalty to her and probably his own ideas about Montayne. Well, we all have our problems, she thought, and I, at this moment, certainly have mine. One thing had been resolved, though. There was no longer any sense of haste. Clearly, Sam and others had accepted that the issue raised by Celia must be resolved, however long it took. Feingold had his head down and was making calculations with a pencil. Looking up, he advised, "In round figures we've committed thirty-two million dollars to Montayne. Not all of it has been spent, so perhaps a quarter would be retrievable. But there are substantial general costs I've not included. As to the real cost of a delay, it's impossible to guess. It would depend on the length of delay and the eventual effect on projected sales.”

"I'll tell you one effect there would be," Hammond, of public affairs, declared.”If we delay Montayne now, the press will have a field day. They'll discredit the drug and it might never recover.”

Sam acknowledged, "I've thought of that too. Delay at this point would, in some ways, be as bad as canceling.”

He swung back to Celia, his tone accusing.”If we did as you suggest-and for the vaguest of reasons-have you given any thought to the questions and angry reaction there would be from the board of directors and stockholders? And have you considered our employees who would have to be laid off, who might lose their jobs permanently?" "Yes," she said, trying to stay calm, concealing the agony this was causing her, "I have thought of all that. I thought about it last night and through most of today.”

Sam grunted skeptically, then returned to Feingold.”So one way or another we'd be taking a chance of losing twenty-eight million, more or less, to say nothing of a much greater loss of anticipated profits.”

The comptroller glanced regretfully at Celia as he answered, "That's the potential loss, it's true.”

Sam said grimly, "And we can't afford it, can we?" Feingold shook his head sadly.”No.”

"However," Celia pointed out, "the loss could be greater still if we ran into trouble with Montayne.”

Glen Nicholson said uneasily, "There is that to think about.”

It was the first support, even if tentative, which Celia had received and she shot the manufacturing chief a grateful glance. Vincent Lord chimed in, "But we don't expect to have trouble. That is, unless the rest of you"-he surveyed the others-"are willing to accept the lady as our ranking scientific expert.”

There was some half-hearted laughter, quickly snuffed out at an impatient gesture from Sam. "Celia," Sam said, "please listen to me carefully.”

His voice was serious, but more controlled than a few moments ago, and again their eyes met directly.”I'd like you to reconsider. It could be that you've spoken hastily and made a judgment without weighing all the implications. Each of us here does similar things at times. I certainly have, and have had to swallow my pride and backtrack, admitting I've been wrong. If you were to do that now, none of us would think an iota the worse of you, and what happened here will end here. I promise that, just as I urge you to change your mind. What do you say?" She was silent, not wanting to rush into a commitment either way without considering it first. Sam had just offered her-easily, graciously, as was his way--a dignified route out. All she had to do was utter a word, a phrase, and the impasse would be over, a crisis averted as swiftly as it came. The offer was extraordinarily tempting. Before she could answer, Sam added, "You have a lot at stake personally.”