At the end of March this year, the much-anticipated "2024 Hurun Global Rich List" was finally released, and Zhong Huijuan, the female head of Jiangsu Haosen Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., whose net worth has fluctuated several times in recent years, was on the list, and at the age of 63, she has the potential to be young.
Of course, this is not the first time she has appeared on the Hurun Research Institute series list.
As early as four years ago, with a total personal wealth of 106 billion yuan, Zhong Huijuan had already won the title of "2020 World's Richest Self-Made Woman", which was a sensation that year.
It is worth mentioning that in 2019, her net worth was only 24 billion yuan.
In other words, in just one year, she increased her wealth at a rate of 200 million per day, becoming the only "100 billion female richest person" on the list.
Back then, Zhong Huijuan was 35 years old when she entered the pharmaceutical industry, and the original company was just a small workshop with only 10 employees.
In 25 years, from a novice in the industry to the richest woman with a net worth of 100 billion, how did Zhong Huijuan create her own wealth myth?
In 1961, Zhong Huijuan was born in an ordinary family in Lianyungang and had excellent grades since childhood.
Like the vast majority of Chinese children, Zhong Huijuan always believed that knowledge could change her destiny when she was a student.
Of course, she did.
In 1977, the long-suspended general college entrance examination was finally resumed, and 16-year-old Zhong Huijuan was one of the candidates this year.
Due to the accumulation of a large number of previous candidates, many families almost rushed out of the nest, several brothers and sisters took the college entrance examination at the same time, and many on-the-job workers who were married and had children also took the exam.
This year, a total of 5.73 million people across the country took the college entrance examination, while only 270,000 were admitted to colleges and universities, accounting for only 4.7% of the total number of candidates.
Therefore, the candidates who were admitted to colleges and universities that year were definitely academic tyrants and deserved the title of "the pride of the sky".
Zhong Huijuan's years of hard work also paid off in this year, and she was successfully admitted to Xuzhou Normal University and enrolled in the pharmaceutical major of the Department of Chemistry.
Also in this year, her fellow countryman Sun Piaoyang was also admitted to China Medical University, also majoring in pharmacy.
Although studying in different universities, in the exchange and study between colleges, two young people with fate met under the arrangement of fate, and then knew and fell in love with each other.
After graduating from university, Zhong Huijuan was assigned to a key middle school in Lianyungang as a chemistry teacher, and Sun Piaoyang came to Lianyungang Pharmaceutical Factory as a technician.
After experiencing the change from campus to workplace, the relationship between the two young people has also successfully blossomed.
The solid professional foundation laid in college, as well as the enthusiasm for teaching students and solving doubts, made Zhong Huijuan handy in her position as a chemistry teacher.
Soon after working in the school, she was recognized by her students and colleagues, and became a school-level teaching expert.
Sun Piaoyang, who graduated from a famous medical school, also developed well in Lianyungang Pharmaceutical Factory, and was promoted to the head of the technical section not long after he was in the position of ordinary technician, and he was very respected by the leadership.
The only fly in the ointment is that at that time, the production technology of Lianyungang Pharmaceutical Factory was still relatively backward, the equipment was also outdated, there was no market competitiveness, and there was no excellent fist product.
In 1990, when large state-owned enterprises were unsustainable and closed down and went bankrupt, Sun Piaoyang was appointed as the director of Lianyungang Pharmaceutical Factory.
Although the official position has been promoted, Sun Piaoyang's heart is up and down.
Because he knows that the current pharmaceutical factory itself is like a critically ill patient, if he can't find a special medicine to bring the dead back to life, he can only go to extinction.
How to bring the pharmaceutical company back to life?
After some research, Sun Piaoyang focused on an anti-cancer drug called VP16.
According to the feedback from hospital patients, there is a great demand for anti-cancer drugs in the domestic market, and there is also a lot of profit margin.
If the factory can produce this drug, the factory should be able to bring the dead back to life.
However, this drug itself is an injection, and with the existing production equipment and technical conditions of the pharmaceutical factory, it is absolutely impossible to produce this drug.
To this end, Sun Piaoyang, who has a flexible mind, made a bold decision to mobilize the technical strength of the pharmaceutical factory to transform VP16 injection into a soft capsule.
Unexpectedly, he actually won this bet.
After this capsule was launched, it not only brought the pharmaceutical company back to life, but also successfully entered the national pharmaceutical market and created considerable benefits.
In 1991, Sun Piaoyang made another gambler-like decision to acquire the patent rights of the new anti-cancer drug "ifosfamide" for 1.2 million yuan.
You must know that in 1991, when workers generally earned dozens of yuan a month, 1.2 million was definitely an astronomical amount.
At that time, the total annual income of the entire pharmaceutical factory was only 1.2 million.
Once it fails, the pharmaceutical company will never have a bright future.
Therefore, Sun Piaoyang's decision was unanimously opposed by other leaders and superiors of the factory, thinking that he was too good and impatient.
But Sun Piaoyang was determined to do it, and took this risky move against public opinion.
Maybe it's because God appreciates food, or maybe it's because of market demand, after a series of operations, Sun Piaoyang really relied on this patent bought back with a lot of money to help the pharmaceutical company make money.
This big victory not only earned him the nickname of "Gambler Factory Manager", but also helped him become a well-known "expert entrepreneur".
At the same time, Lianyungang Pharmaceutical Factory has also changed its past decline and has become a leading enterprise in the research and development of anti-cancer drugs in China.
In 1995, Sun Piaoyang, who was accustomed to ups and downs in the pharmaceutical market, discovered the huge development space of the domestic pharmaceutical market with a keen eye, and had the idea of further expanding the territory.
In the past many years, under his leadership, Lianyungang Pharmaceutical Factory has indeed developed very well, and the momentum is still improving.
But after all, state-owned enterprises are state-owned enterprises, and they only play the role of a manager in them, and they cannot completely let go of their hands and feet.
After a few thoughts, Sun Piaoyang made a decisive move and established Haosen Pharmaceutical Company.
At that time, because a mysterious Hong Kong investor joined the company, it could be regarded as a joint venture.
After the establishment of Haosen Pharmaceutical, Sun Piaoyang began to pick up two heavy burdens by himself:
One is a state-owned enterprise, with countless mouths waiting to eat, of course he does not dare to slack off;
The other is a new company that has just been born, and there are countless large and small affairs to deal with.
As a result, Sun Piaoyang, who lacked skills, had to be tired every day, but he couldn't take care of both sides.
As a result, Sun Piaoyang had the idea of letting his wife come out to take charge of Haosen's business.
First of all, as his pillow person, Zhong Huijuan is undoubtedly his most trustworthy person.
Secondly, Zhong Huijuan also has a background in pharmaceutical majors and is clear about business.
It couldn't have been more fitting for her to take over.
When Sun Piaoyang told his wife about his thoughts, Zhong Huijuan was indeed hesitant.
After all, he has been teaching on the three-foot podium for more than ten years, and he lives a regular and stable life in the school's electric bell, which is very comfortable.
Is it true that at the age of thirty-five, I want to throw away my esteemed teaching profession and step out of my comfort zone to take on challenges in a completely unfamiliar field?
But seeing her husband's tired face and expectant eyes, Zhong Huijuan's heart was still shaken.
The most important thing is that her natural character of not admitting defeat also gave her the urge to jump.
In 1996, Zhong Huijuan decisively resigned from public office and took office as vice president of Haosen.
Although the name of the vice president was famous, she had only a dozen employees under her at that time, and the company only had a few bungalows, which were still located in the suburbs.
And she, the vice president, commutes to and from work by bus every day, and even in order to save time, she simply lives in the company's factory with difficult conditions.
In the early days, Zhong Huijuan had to learn from experienced technical experts with an open mind, and also worked hard to learn business management knowledge that she had never been exposed to, which was quite stressful.
Night after night, his hard work is better than that of taking the college entrance examination that year.
Without a strong technical team, she trained it herself.
With no experience in managing a business, she gradually explored it in practice
As the days went by, she became more and more comfortable using the management methods of "grasping the big and letting go of the small" and "centralizing and democratic".
After the production conditions were met, according to the actual situation of the company's own capital, technology, and R&D capabilities, Zhong Huijuan chose the same route as most pharmaceutical companies at that time: imitating overseas frontiers.
In the mid-90s, cephalexin tablets were still a new type of antibiotic, and the price of importing from foreign countries was very expensive.
Soon, Zhong Huijuan led the technical team to start research and development, and successfully produced her own cephalexin tablets, which were named "Meifeng".
In April 1997, "Meifeng" was put on the market and sold quickly because of its low price and efficacy not inferior to foreign products.
In the first year of the product's listing, the sales volume reached 30 million yuan, and it was also recognized as a national new product by the relevant state departments.
The success of "Meifeng" made Zhong Huijuan realize more deeply that the right choice is more important than hard work.
In the highly competitive pharmaceutical market, a success is nothing, and if you want to "survive step by step" in the environment of "death at any time", you can only make the right choice constantly.
The first generic drug is the darling of pharmaceutical companies.
Because after the expiration of new drug patent protection, whoever launches the first generic drug first will have a pricing advantage and can obtain considerable profits without taking too many R&D risks.
It is precisely in this regard that from 1999 to 2001, Haosen successively launched three first generic drugs, "Geno", "Norbin" and "Oulanning".
"Gaynor" is used to treat lung and breast cancer, while "Norbin" and "Olanning" are for diseases of the central nervous system.
The successful research and development of these generic drugs has made Haosen one of the top 100 pharmaceutical companies in China.
In October 2003, Haosen's API production workshop also obtained the US FDA certification with an excellent answer sheet of "zero defect", thus opening up the European and American markets.
The market share has expanded, and the company's profits have naturally increased like a snowball, and the benefits are getting better and better.
What is rare is that Zhong Huijuan did not indulge in the success of generic drugs, but continued to increase R&D investment with a clear mind, and strive to create her own unique products.
In 2013, Haosen's self-developed special drug for the treatment of chronic myelogenous leukemia "Xinwei" was launched, with a price of 623 yuan per box.
The same kind of drugs imported from abroad can easily cost tens of thousands of yuan a box.
Before the launch of "Xinwei", countless patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia could only look at the sky-high price of imported drugs and sigh in despair.
The listing of the domestic "Xinwei" is tantamount to bringing good news to countless patient families, and the sales volume reached 210 million that year.
Since the hot sale of "Xinwei", Haosen is like a martial arts master who has opened the second pulse of Rendu, and then the new drugs on the market are all hot.
In May 2014, Haosen's new product "Mailingda" with completely independent intellectual property rights was launched, which caused a sensation in the industry.
The successful launch of this drug also marks that Haosen has jumped to the independent innovation track of pharmaceutical products.
Today, Haosen has more than 30 national new drugs, covering six major fields: antibiotics, tumors, psychiatric, internal divisions, digestive system and cardiovascular.
However, no matter how quickly Haosen, who is helmed by Zhong Huijuan, develops, people still associate her with Sun Piaoyang.
For many years, the identity label of Sun Piaoyang's wife has always been firmly attached to her body, and Haosen Pharmaceutical is also regarded as the shadow of Hengrui Pharmaceutical (note: the integrated product of the pharmaceutical factory helmed by Sun Piaoyang).
Indeed, when Zhong Huijuan stepped into the pharmaceutical industry, Sun Piaoyang took the lead, and Haosen's establishment also used the capital provided by him.
But after nearly 20 years of experience in the industry, Zhong Huijuan is no longer the medical novice of the year, but can be like a tall kapok, enough to keep pace with Sun Piaoyang.
In 2019, in order to allow the company to achieve better development and get rid of Sun Piaoyang's shadow, Zhong Huijuan cut Haosen and Hengrui, and after absorbing funds, it became an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Hansoh Pharmaceutical, which was successfully listed in Hong Kong.
On the day of the IPO, Hudson RPO's shares rose 37 percent.
It was in this context that Zhong Huijuan sat on the Hurun Rich List as the "richest self-made woman in the world" the following year.
Today's Zhong Huijuan is already the "bull's ear" in China's pharmaceutical field, and she is on a par with her husband Sun Piaoyang, and is known as the "Condor Heroes" in the domestic pharmaceutical industry.
But Zhong Huijuan is still low-key and pragmatic, and rarely accepts media interviews.
Her figure, either in the laboratory or factory floor of Hansoh Dharth, or at the industry information exchange meeting or talent recruitment site, is very low-key.
It has always been her wish to make Hudson RPO bigger and stronger, develop more new drugs, and serve more patients in China and even the world.
Looking back on Zhong Huijuan's success, there are dividends from the development of the times, and of course, there are also Sun Piaoyang's support, but the most important thing is her personal courage to stand at the forefront of the times and continue to open up the spirit.
If she hadn't stepped down from the podium back then, she would probably have become a world-famous chemist, and she would have been all over the world.
But in today's Chinese pharmaceutical market, there will be one less female leader who is dominant, and there will be one less story of "Condor Heroes".
Perhaps, with the changes in the market, Zhong Huijuan's wealth will continue to expand or shrink, but this does not prevent us from seeing the demeanor of a female helmsman in her.
Author: Liu'an Flower Tea
Edit: Old Road