Interface News Reporter |
Interface News Editor |Xie Xin
On September 20, a reporter from The Paper learned from an industry insider that Li Qing, Global Senior Vice President of Illumina and General Manager of Greater China, has left the company and will serve as Vice President of Waters Corporation and General Manager of Greater China.
A screenshot of a chat record shows that Li Qing said in his speech on the evening of September 12, "I have already tendered my resignation to the company today and will officially leave the company in one month to join another non-competing American life sciences company." "Thank you all for your support over the past four and a half years, especially during the difficult three years of the pandemic!"
On September 20, Illumina confirmed the aforementioned news to The Paper.
Moreover, information leaked from Waters indicates that Jon Pratt, the company's Senior Vice President, announced that Li Qing will join Waters as Vice President and General Manager of Greater China.
Jon Pratt stated that Li Qing will join Waters as Vice President and General Manager of Greater China, becoming a member of the senior leadership team of the Waters Division. He will be responsible for the business of the Waters Division and serve as Waters' corporate representative in Greater China. His official start date will be October 16, and he will be based in Shanghai.
Li Qing served at Illumina for four years as Global Senior Vice President and General Manager of Greater China. In addition to leading the commercial organization, he was also responsible for the localization of production and expanded Illumina's business in China. Prior to joining Illumina, he held senior positions at GE Life Sciences (now Cytiva) and Baxter.
Illumina is a global leader in gene sequencing and chip technology, with a product line covering scientific analytical instruments such as sequencing platforms, chip scanners, and in vitro diagnostic sequencers.
However, Illumina has faced challenges in its development in recent years. Affected by factors such as market competition, the company has experienced a decline in performance. Notably, the Chinese market ranked first in regional declines for two consecutive quarters. Specifically, revenue in Illumina's China region fell by 22% in Q4 2022, and dropped by 28% to $91 million in Q1 2023.
On August 10 this year, Illumina, Inc. announced that the company achieved a revenue of $2.263 billion in the first half of the year, representing a year-over-year decrease of approximately 5%. Additionally, in the second quarter, Illumina's revenue in the Chinese market was $115 million, marking a year-over-year decline of 3%, while its revenue for the first half of the year reached $205 million, continuing the year-over-year downward trend.
Regarding the reasons for the decline in performance in the Chinese market, Illumina previously responded to an interview with *Finance & Health* by stating that this year's market performance in China has been affected by a combination of factors, including global inflation, exchange rates, slowing economic growth, and market competition. Most customers have experienced capital pressure, halting or postponing business expansion. Additionally, customers have become more cautious in managing inventory and making investments.
Recently, Illumina, Inc. has also experienced changes in its senior management overseas. According to the company's official website, on September 5, Illumina announced that its board of directors had appointed Dr. Jacob Thaysen, formerly Senior Vice President of Agilent Technologies and President of the Life Sciences and Applied Markets Group, as the company’s Chief Executive Officer, with the appointment taking effect on September 25. Agilent Technologies is a company specializing in various laboratory instruments, services, and consumables, with extensive operations in the life sciences, diagnostics, and applied chemical markets, and is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA.
In fact, Waters, where Li Qing is about to take up a new position, is also one of the companies in the testing industry. It is an analytical instrument product development company. Headquartered in Massachusetts, USA, the company entered the Chinese market in the 1980s. In July 2022, its Greater China headquarters officially settled in Shanghai.
In simple terms, whether it's routine testing, drug development, clinical diagnosis, or biomedical research, all require instrument-based detection. This is also Waters’ area of expertise. In the first half of 2022, Waters’ sales reached $1.405 billion, marking a 9% increase year-over-year. Of this, $853 million came from the pharmaceutical market, reflecting a 10% growth.
According to the report by The Paper, Liu Min, then Vice President of Waters and General Manager of Greater China, stated in an interview that the company's advantage lies in the CRO/CDMO (referring to contract research and manufacturing organizations for drug development) field.