China’s leading pharmaceuticals enterprise GPHL reported an operating income of 20.954 billion RMB in 2017, up 4.58% year-on-year, and a net profit of 2.062 billion RMB, up 36.71% compared to the previous year, in its 2017 financial report released in mid March.

According to the company’s analysis, strong performance in 2017 was mainly driven by its new businesses. Last year, GPHL launched 47 extended medical service projects, which generated greater growth than traditional service programs for hospitals.

Growth in GPHL’s performance also relies on growth of its core business, Grand Southern TCM and the medicine logistic service as well as e-businesses.

On the evening of January 1st, GPHL announced that its Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical General Factory and Baiyunshan Chemical Pharmaceutical Factory have been granted permission from the China Food and Drug Administration to conduct clinical trials with their class 1.1 new drug Ceftriamidine Sodium and Ceftriamidine Sodium for Injection.

Sildenafil Citrate Tablet, one of GPHL’s key products manufactured by Baiyunshan Pharmaceutical General Factory, reported a 40% year-on-year increase in sales revenue last year, and other key products including cephalosporins, Xiaochaihu Keli and Huatuo Zaizao Pills saw rapid growth as well.

In 2017, GPHL and JD.com signed a strategic partnership agreement, focusing on business and public welfare. The two parties co-facilitated the campaign to reclaim expired medicine and will cooperate further in this area. They will make use of their resources to build a new O2O ecosystem for the pharmaceuticals industry, strengthen their cooperation in the field of logistics and open a GPHL flagship store on JD.com.

What’s more, GPHL also reached an agreement with We Doctor to reinforce the complementary advantages of medical partnerships, centralized purchase of medicine, drug and treatment stores and pharmaceutical logistics, altogether boosting the development of the Internet health and medicine industry in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

The exclusive provider of herbal tea for the 2017 Fortune Global Forum—Wanglaoji Herbal Tea

Last December, GPHL started its acquisition of 30% of the stock rights of Guangzhou Pharmaceuticals Corporation currently owned by Alliance BMP Limited, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Walgreens Boots Alliance. Insiders pointed out, this will further strengthen GPHL’s advantage in pharmaceutical business, and its new businesses and new partnerships provide strong momentum for the enterprise’s follow-up development.

It is of note that GPHL achieved a sales revenue of 100 billion RMB in 2017 and has topped the list of China’s Top 100 Pharmaceutical Companies for several years in a row. In 2018, GPHL will focus more on development of technology, and increasing investment in technological innovation; bringing in and cultivating talent, so as to achieve its next goal—to become a Fortune Global 500 enterprise by 2020.

(Author: Monica Liu; Editors: Simon Haywood, Olivia Yang)