Today (May 19)
The front-page headline of Taizhou Daily featured a report titled
XIANJU PHARMA: From a Small Factory
to China’s Largest Steroid Drug Company with a Complete Range of Brands,
Born Among the Mountains, Topping the Industry
Let’s take a closer look!
With a simple factory building, dozens of employees, a few reaction kettles, a single product, and basic production processes, Xianju Pharmaceutical stepped onto the track of steroid hormone API and formulation production in 1972 as a new player.
Zhejiang Xianju Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., formerly Xianju Pharmaceutical Factory, is located in Xianju County, a region known as “eight parts mountains, one part water, and one part farmland”. Over the past 50 years, this enterprise, nurtured among the mountains, has transformed from scratch and from small to large. After a long early development period, it has quietly grown into an industry giant.
Planning for the Future, with the Courage to Be a Pioneer
From an unknown small factory to a renowned enterprise with three core manufacturing platforms, Xianju Pharmaceutical has blazed a trail: it became the first listed company in Xianju and established the county’s first research institute…
As Ying Minghua put it, what Xianju Pharmaceutical never lacks is the courage to be a pioneer. “Through 50 years of trials and hardships, ‘striving for the forefront and standing at the tide’ has long become a gene engraved in Xianju Pharmaceutical’s soul.”
Back in the 1980s, the company’s production was still in a simple and extensive mode. However, the fact that technological innovation could effectively boost the enterprise’s production efficiency sowed the seed of the “innovation-driven” philosophy at Xianju Pharmaceutical.
“Science and technology are the primary productive forces.” Following this assertion, Xianju Pharmaceutical underwent a rapid ideological transformation. Since then, it took the lead in completing the shareholding reform in Xianju, successively established an enterprise technology R&D center and a postdoctoral research workstation, injecting a shot in the arm for the enterprise’s upgrading, transformation and rapid development.
In 2012, Xianju Pharmaceutical founded the first research institute in Xianju County.
The establishment of the research institute was a necessity for Xianju Pharmaceutical—for technological development, product development, production improvement, and above all, for planning ahead for the future.
“Our products are mainly corticosteroid drugs, sex hormone drugs, anesthetics and muscle relaxants, and respiratory drugs, which belong to niche segments with distinctive features and require extensive research. The company puts forward many innovation plans every year, and we need an innovation carrier to integrate innovative elements and resources and focus on the work we need to do,” said Ying Minghua.
Facts have proven that the research institute has brought enormous value:
More than a dozen projects are implemented each year; new products are transferred from the research institute to the production line; the number of researchers has grown from about 40-50 in the early days to more than 200 today; and the annual R&D investment has increased from tens of millions of yuan to over 200 million yuan.
While other enterprises were still focusing on generic drugs, Xianju Pharmaceutical had already embarked on a combination of generic and innovative R&D, with first generic drugs and improved new drugs becoming a key focus.
In 2018, China formulated and issued the relevant standards for green factories for the first time. Once again, Xianju Pharmaceutical took the lead.
By the end of that year, nearly 80 sets of three-in-one equipment, purchased at a high price by Xianju Pharmaceutical, were put into the newly built production building, replacing the original backward production equipment with high energy consumption, low digitalization and non-compliance with environmental protection requirements. The factory’s appearance took on a completely new look.
Planning for the Future, with the Courage to Be a Pioneer
“Xianju Pharmaceutical ranks among the top in the pharmaceutical and chemical industry in Taizhou in terms of the number of three-in-one equipment owned,” said Wang Yongjiang, Director of Management at Xianju Pharmaceutical’s API Manufacturing Base. “The high-priced green factory we built has realized the continuity, automation, hermeticity, digitalization, pipelining and systematization of all production steps.”
In addition, Xianju Pharmaceutical has actively expanded channels for external cooperation and exchanges, establishing long-term cooperative relationships with more than 20 renowned domestic research institutes and universities, including the Shanghai Institute of Organic Chemistry of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Zhejiang University and China Pharmaceutical University. It has successfully developed more than 40 new drug varieties and obtained more than 30 scientific research achievements at or above the provincial level.
Through daring attempts and bold exploration, Xianju Pharmaceutical has gradually transformed from a traditional pharmaceutical factory into a modern international pharmaceutical company with a global vision.
Innovation-Driven, with the Wisdom to Utilize Talents
Talent is the key to enhancing an enterprise’s innovation capability. However, Xianju was originally inconvenient in transportation and lacked geographical advantages, which was extremely unfavorable for talent gathering. So how can a mountainous county recruit talents and upgrade the enterprise’s intelligent manufacturing level?
“Building off-site R&D bases” is Xianju’s answer, and also Xianju Pharmaceutical’s layout for many years.
“We have set up three laboratories in Hangzhou and Jiaxing,” introduced Ying Minghua. “In this way, talents can conduct technical research in big cities, enjoy the resources there, and at the same time ensure that research results are implemented in Xianju.”
As a native of Jiaxing, Dr. Dai Jing, Vice President of the Research Institute of Zhejiang Xianju Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., is full of expectations for the completion of the Jiaxing Laboratory.
In 2011, after obtaining her PhD in Organic Chemistry from Zhejiang University, Dr. Dai Jing joined Xianju Pharmaceutical as a researcher, and she was also the first PhD in chemical synthesis recruited by the company.
After joining Xianju Pharmaceutical, Dr. Dai Jing found many problems. “Many people here did experiments based on experience without a clear understanding of the experimental principles. At that time, I felt there was a lot I could do.”
On the stage of Xianju Pharmaceutical, as an outstanding Party member of the city, Dr. Dai Jing takes the lead; as a high-end talent, she leads the team in R&D. Every time she improves the production process and sees how much cost is saved and how much energy consumption is reduced, she gains a greater sense of accomplishment.
Over the past 11 years, while improving production processes and conducting product R&D, Dr. Dai Jing has rooted herself in Xianju Pharmaceutical. “The research institute launches more than a dozen projects every year. Researchers ‘delve into’ every link to further enhance cost advantages and strengthen the market competitiveness of our products.”
At the Research Institute of Xianju Pharmaceutical, more than 200 pharmaceutical R&D and technical talents are competing for excellence. They immerse themselves in research, and through numerous chemical experiments, they continuously improve the technical indicators and competitiveness of products.
In the process development of sugammadex sodium, Yang Yi’s team optimized the ratio of brominating reagents and reaction temperature, and screened the purification conditions at the same time. Finally, high-quality sugammadex sodium finished products were obtained, cutting the production cycle of the newly developed process by more than half and reducing costs by over 80%.
In the process improvement of rocuronium bromide, Zhang Jianlin’s team optimized the reaction temperature and pH value, effectively inhibiting the generation of impurities. The single-step yield was increased by 15-20%, and the cost per kilogram was reduced by more than 1,000 yuan.
Such examples are too numerous to mention.
At present, the number of technical personnel at Xianju Pharmaceutical has reached more than 800, accounting for 21% of the total employees, including 25 PhDs and more than 150 masters. The gathering of talents has continuously enhanced the enterprise’s innovation capability and market competitiveness. In the tide of the new era, Xianju Pharmaceutical is relying on its “courage” and “wisdom” to become a forerunner leading the development of the steroid drug industry.
