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Home "No.1 Brother" Hengrui Finally Takes Off, While "No.1 Sister" Hansoh Has Already Soared Ahead

"No.1 Brother" Hengrui Finally Takes Off, While "No.1 Sister" Hansoh Has Already Soared Ahead

Jul 22, 2025 07:32 CST Updated 07:32
Hengrui Pharma

Innovative and High-Quality Pharmaceutical Developer

Hansoh Pharma

Pharmaceutical Research, Production, and Sales

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Hengrui Pharma's recent performance has been astonishing. After listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, its usually rock-solid approach suddenly turned aggressive, with two days of gains matching the volatility of the past three years, finally entering an upward channel. In fact, Hansoh Pharma, the "first lady" of the "husband-and-wife shops," has achieved a rise of over 90% since the beginning of this year, performing much better than "the leading man" Hengrui Pharma. In the past, these two "spousal enterprises" demonstrated...Calm and HeavyThe image has become increasingly "fierce" over the past two years. According to certain indicators, the intensity of the "leading lady" surpasses others by a significant margin.
Almonertinib SuccessInUK Listing, making such "Fierce"More concretely,This not only marks a solid and significant step forward for Hansoh Pharma in its international journey but also signifies China's self-developed EGFR-TKI Successfully Lands Overseas Market for the First Time, Opening a New Chapter for China's Innovative DrugsA New Chapter走向世界。

Deep Affection Between Husband and Wife
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In the 1990s, China's pharmaceutical market was dominated by high-priced foreign original research drugs that were unaffordable for ordinary patients. In 1995, when Sun Piaoyang and his partner Cen Junda co-founded Hansoh Pharma (the predecessor of Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Company Limited), they recognized this market gap.
At that time, Hansoh Pharma was very small, with only a dozen employees, and could be seen as Sun Piaoyang's "PLAN B" to seek breakthroughs amid the constraints of the system. However, as Sun Piaoyang was busy with the restructuring of Lianyungang Pharmaceutical Factory (the predecessor of Hengrui Pharma) at the time, Zhong Huishan resigned from her position at a top school and took on the heavy responsibility of managing Hansoh Pharma.
In 1997, after three months of hard work by Zhong Huijuan and the research team, "Meifeng," a new formulation of cephalexin tablets, was approved for marketing. It achieved sales revenue of 30 million yuan in the same year, and soon its annual sales exceeded 100 million yuan, becoming Hansoh Pharma's key product.PharmaEarly pillar products.
"The success of 'Meifeng' made Zhong Huijuan realize that for start-up pharmaceutical companies, choosing the right strategy is more important than sheer effort. She turned her attention to those overseas 'astronomically priced drugs' circulating in China. As soon as these drugs’ patents expired in China, Hansoh Pharma would be the first to launch corresponding generic versions. This 'fast-follow' strategy became a core driving force behind its early rapid development."
Relying on a "fast follower" strategy, Hansoh Pharma has rapidly risen to become a giant in China-produced generic drugs, with products covering multiple fields such as central nervous system diseases, anti-tumor, and anti-infection. However, the growth of this company has always been accompanied by doubts—due to its highly similar product lines and sales models with Hengrui Pharma led by Sun Piaoyang, the industry refers to them as a "husband-and-wife shop."
In 2008, Sun Piaoyang publicly stated that "Hansoh will definitely be merged into Hengrui," further fueling external doubts about Hansoh's independence. Amidst the controversy, Zhong Huijuan had quietly begun to lay out a transformation. In 2014, Hansoh's first self-developed Class 1.1 new drug, MaiLingDa, was approved for marketing, becoming the world’s first nitroimidazole-class anti-anaerobic innovative drug in 40 years, marking the awakening of Hansoh Pharma's innovation gene.
Facing the pressure of skepticism about "spousal businesses," Zhong Huijuan demonstrated remarkable resolve. In December 2015, she integrated her company into a wholly-owned subsidiary of Hansoh Pharma, paving the way for an independent IPO. Finally, in June 2019, Hansoh Pharma officially went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with its market value surpassing HKD 100 billion on the first day, becoming the "No. 1 pharmaceutical stock" in the Hong Kong stock market.。
But behind the glossy IPO, a storm is brewing in China's pharmaceuticals industry.
In the same year Hansoh Pharma went public, China's national centralized procurement was officially launched. This reform, known as the "soul-cutting price negotiation," completely disrupted the profit model of China’s generic drug industry. In September 2019, Hansoh Pharma’s core products, Olanzapine Tablets and Imatinib Mesylate Tablets, were forced to cut prices to secure bids in the “4+7” procurement expansion, while Pulaile, with annual sales reaching 1.548 billion yuan, failed to secure a bid outright.

Could this be the trigger?
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In 2020, Hansoh Pharma's revenue growth was less than 1%, and in 2022, it experienced the first dual decline in revenue and net profit since 2016, with a total income of 9.382 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 5.56%. The golden age of generic drugs has come to an end, and the transition to innovative drugs has shifted from a strategic choice to a survival necessity.
In critical moments, the forward-looking innovative drug research and development becomes a lifesaver.
In 2020, Ameitinib was approved for marketing.
The birth of Aumolertinib is a textbook case of China's innovative drug development. In 2018, after the first third-generation EGFR inhibitor was approved in China, the Hansoh Pharma research team worked day and night, and in just two years, they successfully pushed for the approval and market launch of Aumolertinib, making it the first domestically produced and the second globally available third-generation EGFR-TKI.
In the following five years, Ameitinib received approval for four indications, achieving full coverage of the non-small cell lung cancer treatment process and establishing a strong market competition barrier.
But a single product cannot support the long-term development of an enterprise, and the competition in EGFR-TKI is becoming increasingly fierce.
As of now, a total of 12 EGFR-TKI drugs have been launched in China, including three first-generation EGFR TKI drugs such as Gefitinib, Icotinib, and Erlotinib, and two second-generation EGFR-TKI drugs including Afatinib and Dacomitinib. In addition, there are seven third-generation EGFR-TKI drugs, including Osimertinib, Almonertinib, Furmonertinib, Befotertinib, Rezivertinib and Reerlotinib newly approved for marketing in 2024, and Lieerlotinib approved in 2025.
The EGFR-TKI market is already a sea of fire.
However, under Zhong Huijuan's forward-looking layout, Hansoh Pharma's R&D investment ratio increased from 1.121 billion yuan in 2019 to 2.702 billion yuan in 2024, with an average annual compound growth rate of 19.24% from 2019 to 2024.
After several years of development, such a large investment has yielded substantial returns.
To date, Hansoh Pharma has had eight innovative drugs approved for marketing, including heavyweight drugs such as Henmu (China's first domestically developed hepatitis B drug) in the anti-infective field, Fulamore (China’s first long-acting GLP-1 diabetes drug) in the metabolic field, and XinYue (the world’s first biologic for treating AQP4 antibody-positive NMOSD) in the central nervous system field, among others successively launched.
By the end of 2024, the revenue from Hansoh Pharma's innovative drugs and collaboration products reached 9.477 billion yuan, increasing by 38.1% year-on-year, and the proportion rose to 77.3%, indicating a very successful innovation transformation.
There are many reasons for the success, but one point that is highly worth the reference of generic drug companies in China is to leverage BD to establish a closed-loop ecosystem for innovative R&D.
During the painful period of centralized procurement, relying solely on internal R&D accumulation to achieve innovative transformation not only faces a funding gap but also needs to overcome the dual challenges of technological barriers and time costs. Against this backdrop, the BD strategy has become a crucial pivot for Hansoh Pharma to balance "short-term survival" with "long-term innovation."
In the past few years, we witnessed Hansoh Pharma on a buying spree, but soon after, we began to see more and more selling.

BD Builds Closed-loop Ecosystem
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Hansoh Pharma fills its R&D gaps by "bringing in" resources while validating the value of independent innovation by "going global," creating a two-way flow of innovative ecosystems. This strategy not only avoids the high risks associated with independent R&D but also rapidly accumulates technical experience through collaboration, laying a foundation for subsequent R&D reinforcement.
In 2021, Hansoh PharmaSingapore-based biopharmaceutical company Carmot TherapeuticsHansoh Pharma has reached a cooperation to obtain the rights to a Claudin 18.2-targeted ADC drug in China. The drug has entered Phase II clinical trials, while similar self-developed drugs typically take an average of 5-7 years from target discovery to the clinical stage. Through technology acquisition, Hansoh Pharma not only saved at least three years of R&D time but also mastered the core technology of linker-payload design for ADC drugs through collaboration.
These experiences directly benefited the internal ADC development team. In 2023, HS-20093, an ADC drug targeting HER2 independently developed by Hansoh Pharma, successfully entered Phase I clinical trials. Its payload stability improved by 40% compared to the industry average, a breakthrough achieved through technical沉淀 from collaborative projects.
In the field of metabolic diseases, Hansoh Pharma has built a dual-formulation R&D pipeline of "oral + injectable" by introducing small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist technology. In 2022, an oral GLP-1 drug was introduced, whose crystal form patent technology solved the industry-wide challenge of low bioavailability. The R&D team mastered the screening method for this crystal form during the collaboration and applied it to their self-developed long-acting GLP-1 drug HS-10415, extending its half-life to 72 hours, which is a 50% improvement over similar products.
This "introduction-absorption-reinnovation" approach has enabled Hansoh Pharma to nearly double its R&D efficiency in the field of metabolic diseases.
When independent innovation capabilities reach international standards, outbound licensing becomes another crucial pillar for BD to support R&D. Through the external licensing of high-value innovative drugs, Hansoh Pharma not only realizes commercial value but also secures funding for continuous R&D investment, forming a positive cycle of "R&D - Licensing - Further R&D."
In 2023, Hansoh Pharma's ADC drug BD collaboration with Merck set the record for the highest milestone payment for a single project by a Chinese pharmaceutical company at that time (USD 1.525 billion).
This ADC drug targeting Nectin-4, HS-20089, features a novel toxin molecule independently developed with the advantages of low bystander effect and high safety. In the collaboration, MSD not only paid an upfront fee of $185 million but also established a joint research and development team with Hansoh Pharma, sharing global clinical trial data.
In the field of small-molecule innovative drugs, Hansoh Pharma has collaborated with GSK on the oral GLP-1 drug HS-10322. The upfront payment for this collaboration reached $112 million, with subsequent milestone payments amounting to $1.9 billion. The core advantage of this drug lies in its liver-targeting capability, which can reduce gastrointestinal side effects. The cooperation agreement specifically stipulates that GSK must grant Hansoh Pharma access to its global clinical trial database, providing valuable control data for Hansoh Pharma's international R&D efforts.
In 2024, Hansoh Pharma's revenue from BD reached 1.572 billion yuan, accounting for 16% of innovative drug revenue and 35% of R&D funding, becoming the second-largest source of R&D funding after operating cash flow.
More crucially, through cooperation with international giants, Hansoh Pharma’s clinical trial standards and production quality management systems have aligned with international standards. In 2024, its Shanghai production base successfully passed the FDA on-site inspection, laying the foundation for innovative drugs to enter the global market.

Conclusion
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Hansoh Pharma's "BD nurturing R&D" model provides a third path for Chinese pharmaceutical companies beyond "pure in-house R&D" and "pure licensing," offering many insights.The Most ReferentialThe key point is that the essence of BD is not buying and selling technology, but improving R&D efficiency through resource integration. The ability of "internalizing technology" determines the ultimate success or failure.，Simply introducing technology can only shorten the gap temporarily.。Only by establishing a closed loop of technology absorption and re-innovation can continuous competitiveness be formed. Therefore, it is necessary toUnderstanding BD,Apply BD, BD is the accelerator, R&D is the engine, only with their synergy can we achieve China speed in global competition. For further developments, PharmaDJ will continue to monitor.
References
1. Hansoh Pharma Official Website, Annual Reports, Announcements, etc.
2. TF Securities, Southwest Securities Research Reports, etc.
3. "Hansoh Pharma: What Made Global Pharmaceutical Giant Merck Spend $20 Billion?", Titanium Media, 2025-1-24
4. "Hansoh Pharma, Parent Company of Housen Pharmaceuticals: Dual-Engine Driven R&D Expenditure Increased by 28.7% in the First Half of the Year," Dazhong News, 2024-8-30
5. "Hansoh Pharma, the 'Honest Player' in the Pharmaceutical Industry", Yi Yao, 2025-5-30

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