Overview

Fosun Pharma (stock code: 600196.SH, 02196.HK) is a leading healthcare group in China. Fosun Pharma has developed a global operation strategy in China, with pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D being at the core of their business, together with maintaining a strong presence in medical devices and diagnostics, healthcare services, pharmaceutical distribution, and retail.

R&D

With R&D innovation as a core driving factor, Fosun Pharma continues to optimize its pharmaceutical operations across both innovative and generic drugs. The company has established international R&D teams in China, the United States, India, and others. Research areas include innovative small molecule drugs, high-value generic drugs, biologics, and cell therapy.

Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

In 2018, Fosun’s pharmaceutical manufacturing and R&D segment achieved strong growth. Their operating revenue grew 41.57% year-over-year to US$2.75 billion. So far, Fosun Pharma has continued to focus on therapeutic areas, including oncology, the cardiovascular system, the central nervous system, the circulatory system, metabolism, the gastrointestinal tract, and anti-infection. All of their significant products occupied leading positions and maintained fast growth in each market segment.

In 2018, their significant products included: febuxostat tablets (You Li Tong), pitavastatin calcium tablets (Bang Zhi), quetiapine fumarate tablets (Qi Wei), anti-tuberculosis series, vancomycin, enoxaparin sodium injection, alfacalcidol tablets(Li Qing), piperacillin sodium, and sulbactam sodium for injection (Qiang Shu Xi Lin). In the oversea market, artemisinin-based antimalarial products are highly recognized in the African market, and Artesunate for injection (Artesun®) is listed as the first reference drug for the treatment of severe malaria.

Medical Devices and Medical Diagnosis

In recent years, Fosun Pharma Group has achieved rapid growth in the medical devices and medical diagnosis business. In these two segments, they are in a leading position in the industry.

– Medical Devices

• Fosun Pharma’s medical laser aesthetic beauty equipment, high-end medical emergency vehicles, surgical robots, and other medical equipment products rank high in the market.
• Sisram Medical Ltd (1696.HK), a leading global provider of energy-based medical aesthetic treatment systems, was officially listed on the Main Board of HKEx in 2017, becoming the first Israeli company listed on the Hong Kong Exchange Main Board.
• The Da Vinci surgical robotic system is the only surgical robotic system that has been approved by the FDA and NMPA for commercialization, till the end of 2018.

– Medical Diagnosis

• Fosun Pharma is one of the earliest companies that works on in-vitro diagnostics (IVD) in China. Their products cover clinical chemistry, clinical immunology, molecular diagnostics (including DNA microarray), clinical microbiology, and other laboratory medicine fields. The company is also the leading provider of medical diagnosis products and services in the China market, as well as being an active participant in the global market.
• In 2018, Fosun Pharma’s diagnostic business stepped into third-party testing through M&A. It will play an increasingly important role in the medical laboratory self-construction project (LDT) in personalized medicine and precision healthcare, to expand their medical diagnosis business.

Overseas investment

In addition to medical device companies Sisram Medical and the Da Vinci surgical robotic system, Fosun acquired Gland Pharma Limited, an Indian company, in 2017. The company is a pharmaceutical one, mainly engaged in the production and manufacturing of injectable biosimilars. It was the first injectable drug manufacturer approved by the US FDA in India.

In terms of international collaboration and development, in 2019, Fosun Pharma collaborated with the well-known cell therapy research company ReNeuron to introduce cell therapy products for post-stroke disability and retinitis pigmentosa, and promoted the creation of a stem cell platform. Fosun also has been authorized by MimiVax to exclusively clinically develop and commercialize SurVaxM, an immunotherapy product for glioblastoma. Moreover, the company is accelerating clinical trials and listings for the licensed introduced varieties of Doptelet (avatrombopag) and Tenapanor Tablets.

In terms of international expansion, Fosun Pharma not only cultivated operational capabilities by establishing subsidiaries in mature markets such as the United States and Europe, they also developed and formed market and production capabilities. This was accomplished through both self-construction as well as mergers and acquisitions in emerging markets such as Africa and India.

This year, Fosun Pharma reached a collaboration agreement with the German biomedical company BioNTech SE, obtaining a license for the exclusive development and commercialization of COVID-19 vaccine products based on its proprietary mRNA technology platform in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan.