Ⅰ China's Innovative Drug "10-Billion-Yuan Club" officially announced with 5 pharmaceutical companies’ breakthrough

In 2025, five companies—BeOne Medicines, Hengrui Pharma, Sino Biopharma, Hansoh Pharma, and Innovent Biologics—became the first to cross the annual revenue threshold of 10 billion yuan from innovative drugs, setting a new record in the history of China's innovative drug development.

Five companies choose three distinctly different paths to the 10-billion-yuan milestone

Globalization path: BeOne Medicines's Brukinsa has swept global markets, with overseas revenue accounting for over two-thirds of its total, making it a benchmark for Chinese innovative drug globalization.

Local efficiency path: Innovent Biologics leveraged broad pipeline coverage coupled with best-in-class commercialization to rapidly dilute costs, making the leap from product launch to 10 billion yuan in just 7 years.

Traditional pharma transformation path: Hengrui Pharma, Sino Biopharma, Hansoh Pharma rapidly unlock the value of their innovative drugs with years of accumulated commercialization experience.

Meanwhile, a second tier of companies is closely following in fast just outside the 10-billion-yuan threshold.

Fosun Pharma with innovative drug revenue of 9.893 billion yuan (just shy of 10 billion), Simcere with 6.304 billion yuan, and Allist with 5.172 billion yuan become strong contenders for the next wave of "10-billion-yuan players."

Ⅱ The core code to breaking 10 billion: three qualitative changes from "cash burning" to "cash generation

Crossing the 10-billion-yuan threshold is no accident, indicating the completion of three foundational capability upgrades by the leading enterprises:

1. Self-generated product revenue, completely shedding licensing dependence

In the past, China's innovative drug industry relied on license-out fees for “keeping up appearances”. In 2025, leading enterprises have shifted to product sales as the primary driver, with licensing as a secondary function.

Innovent Biologics recorded 11.896 billion yuan in innovative drug revenue, with only 957 million yuan from licensing fees.

Hengrui Pharma recorded 16.342 billion yuan in innovative drug sales, with license-out income of 3.392 billion yuan; self-generated sales remain the absolute dominant force rather than relying on capital investment, which is the essential difference between a Biotech and a Biopharma.

2. Economies of scale come true, resulting in improvements in both gross profit margin and operational efficiency.

Once revenue breaks 100 billion yuan, economies of scale are fully unleashed:

Sale, administrative, and R&D expenses are significantly diluted—BeOne Medicines's operating expense ratio dropped 20.2% year-on-year.

An optimized product mix drives higher gross margins: which exceeds 87% for both BeOne and Innovent, with BeOne Medicines's quarterly gross margin reaching as high as 90.49%.

Leading enterprises have formally entered a virtuous cycle from "profit squeezed out of cost cuts" to "growth earned from genuine revenue".

3. R&D and cash flow: from reckless spending to targeted investment

R&D expenses of BeOne Medicines reached 15.5 billion yuan (up 10% year-on-year), yet its R&D expense ratio fell from 53.1% to 40.4%.

R&D spending from Innovent Biologics recorded 2.624 billion yuan, with its R&D expense ratio dropping from 28.4% to 20.1%, realizing positive operating cash flow for the first time.

R&D investment continues to increase, but with a much sharper focus on ROI. Cash flow is steadily improving, and the ability to generate cash internally is now fully established.

From The Circle of Biological product

April 16th, 2026