At present, China's pharmaceutical intermediates industry has a high degree of marketization. It is characterized by a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises, concentrated production areas, stable business scale, low level of process technology, and serious product homogeneity. It is increasingly difficult to develop new products. Competition among traditional products has become increasingly fierce. Coupled with the impact of national environmental protection policies, the market size of the pharmaceutical intermediates industry has declined and slowed down. In 2018, the market size of China's pharmaceutical intermediates industry was approximately 201.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 24%: the industry will resume positive growth in 2020.
In the early stages of the development of the pharmaceutical intermediates industry, due to small investment and higher profit levels than ordinary chemical products, the market entry threshold was relatively low. A large number of small chemical companies entered the field of pharmaceutical intermediates, resulting in rapid growth in output. China's pharmaceutical intermediates output continued to grow from 2012 to 2016. In 2017, affected by factors such as stricter environmental protection and production safety policies and industry adjustments, pharmaceutical intermediates output declined. It did not start growing again until 2021 due to the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic. China's pharmaceutical intermediate production in 2021 will be 10.32 million tons, the same as in 2018.
Since the production methods of pharmaceutical intermediates and chemical APIs are similar, Chinese chemical API manufacturers usually also produce pharmaceutical intermediate products. China's pharmaceutical intermediates industry is relatively fragmented, and most companies are relatively small. In the future, with the implementation of environmental protection and production safety regulatory policies, companies that cannot meet the requirements of green production will be gradually eliminated, and industry concentration will increase. Among them, Puluo Pharmaceutical has the largest market share, with a market share of 4.09%.
ProPharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is the enterprise with the largest proportion of pharmaceutical intermediates in China and is the industry leader. Its main products cover anti-infectives, anti-tumor products, cardiovascular and cerebrovascular products, psychiatric products and veterinary drugs. In 1997, it was established in Shenzhen Stock Exchange listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, according to data, the company's intermediates and API revenue is growing year by year. In 2022, the revenue of Prolo Pharmaceutical's intermediates and APIs will be 7.787 billion yuan; Yanyi Pharmaceutical was established in 2007, and its main business is senior R&D, production and sales of pharmaceutical intermediates, APIs and related products, and layout of chemical API CDMO business in 2021. The main product categories include anti-allergic, anti-thrombotic, antioxidant, gastric ulcer, anti-viral, antipyretic and analgesic and ultraviolet absorbers. From the perspective of product structure, pharmaceutical intermediate products are the main source of income, generating revenue of 190 million yuan in 2021. In addition, UV absorbers and other products will generate revenue of 11.43 million yuan and 7.64 million yuan respectively in 2021, accounting for 5.47% and 3.66% of the main business revenue.
The pharmaceutical industry in developed countries in Europe and the United States started earlier. However, with the continuous development of global productivity and the deepening of international division of labor, pharmaceutical companies in developed countries in Europe and the United States focus on the research and development and market development of innovative drugs, so that the pharmaceutical intermediates industry is accelerating its transfer to Asian countries including China and India. In order to meet the continuous development of the pharmaceutical industry, my country's pharmaceutical intermediates industry will develop from the original traditional model of low-level duplication, lack of innovation, and extensive production to the direction of innovative upgrades, high quality, and high level. With the advancement of research and development work, , The accumulation of independent intellectual property rights, the product added value and process complexity of pharmaceutical intermediates will continue to increase, becoming a strong guarantee for the development of the pharmaceutical industry.