The share price of Huaxi Bio, the global leader in hyaluronic acid, soared. What flew into the sky?

On July 3rd, 2020, Huaxi Bio (688363), the world's largest producer of hyaluronic acid, closed at 14 1. 16 yuan. The "invisible champion" of hyaluronic acid industry has become the focus of attention.

Why has Huaxi Bio been favored by consumers, customers and foreign-funded institutions recently? This matter has to start from twenty or thirty years ago.

1

The spark of miracle is always ignited by accident.

The history of life in West China has to start from 30 years ago.

From 65438 to 0990, Guo, the chief scientist of West China Biotechnology, took the lead in developing microbial fermentation to produce hyaluronic acid in China. Prior to this, hyaluronic acid was obtained by extraction and most imports in China. Guo's research results changed this situation and made great contributions to the medical field in China at that time.

Because of its importance, Guo, who was still working in Shandong Institute of Biomedicine at that time, quickly attracted the attention of the state and was included in the national key scientific and technological projects during the Eighth Five-Year Plan and the Ninth Five-Year Plan. Later, he won the second prize of National Science and Technology Progress Award and was awarded the Paul Zhan Sen Medical Research Award in Wu Jieping.

Photos of Guo, the "father of hyaluronic acid in China", and his apprentices were recently exhibited at the World Hyaluronic Acid Museum, along with relevant manuscripts and approval materials for applying for national projects and key scientific and technological projects.

However, scientists are not good at formulating enterprise strategy and management. In the early days, the company was a sustained loss-making enterprise and its development was not smooth.

A year later, when the enterprise was in a survival dilemma, scientist Guo met Zhao Yan, the current chairman of Huaxi Bio. Hyaluronic acid was not well-known that year. Guo casually said that "one hyaluronic acid molecule can lock 1000 water molecules" was immediately captured by Zhao Yan, who has a keen business sense. So this Yunnan girl with two braids made a decisive investment decision.

Zhao Yan, who has advanced thinking mode and business logic, has carried out systematic management transformation from the inside out for Shandong Freda Biochemical Co., Ltd. (the predecessor of Huaxi Biochemical), and established enterprise quality standards and norms according to the ISO9000 quality management system. In that year, the company turned losses into profits.

2

Monopoly the world step by step.

The microbial fermentation method mastered by Guo belongs to Shandong Institute of Biomedicine. Huaxi Bio spent 450,000 research institutes to purchase the initial technology of microbial fermentation 20 years ago.

Everyone in the circle knows that fermentation yield is an important index, although it is a simple data, it is an important basis for measuring the value of hyaluronic acid industry and a very important core competitiveness of hyaluronic acid enterprises.

According to insiders, the initial fermentation output of Huaxi Bio-acquisition was still very low. In 200 1, less than 3g hyaluronic acid was obtained per liter of fermentation broth. But in a sense, it is not only fermentation but also Guo Xueping that illuminates the world of hyaluronic acid.

It is said that there were only three R&D people in the early stage of biotechnology in West China. In order to improve the yield, Guo took two assistants and began to ponder the small fermentation strains, and made great efforts in mutation, screening, process optimization and control technology.

In short, in the past 20 years, the fermentation output of hyaluronic acid in West China bio-industry has increased from less than 3 g/L to 12- 14 g/L, and the fermentation cycle has been shortened year by year, and the product quality far exceeds the European Pharmacopoeia standards. Which customer doesn't want to buy such a product? This is how the myth of high gross profit comparable to Maotai came about.

It is precisely because of such a high level of industrialization that many internationally renowned hyaluronic acid enterprises are "behind". Even Shiseido, which once dominated the field of hyaluronic acid, was forced to withdraw from the global food-grade, cosmetic-grade and pharmaceutical-grade hyaluronic acid raw material market under cost pressure. It's not that I don't want to stay, just because I can't do the cost and quality of Huaxi Biological.

At the same time, Huaxi Bio's "ambition" gradually emerged, and it began to expand its production scale and capacity in an attempt to occupy a larger hyaluronic acid market.

In 2003, Zhao Yan, keenly aware of the industrial prospect, decided to invest heavily to build a factory for Huaxi Bio. Guo plunged into the laboratory, not only continuing to study fermentation technology, but also personally drawing drawings for production equipment such as fermentation and refining, and looking for manufacturers to tailor them. Many people can't understand why the fermentation yield and quality of biotechnology in West China are increasing year by year. In addition to strains, technologies and processes, the particularity and customization of production equipment alone cannot be copied and surpassed by other enterprises.

In 2005, Huaxi Bio's first self-owned factory was completed and put into operation, and its market share became the first in the world the following year. The second factory was completed and put into operation in 20 15, and now it continues to build factories and industrial parks in Tianjin and Jinan. Huaxi Bio has continuously invested in intangible R&D costs, and the number of R&D personnel has increased from three 20 years ago to nearly 300 today.

Not long ago, Huaxi Bio acquired Forsyte Bio, which ranked fourth in the global market share, and pocketed the production capacity of Forsyte100t/year. According to the fermentation technology and productivity empowerment of Huaxi Bio, it is estimated that Foster's existing productivity should be greatly improved after optimization and improvement. In 20 19, the hyaluronic acid production capacity of Huaxi Bio reached 320 tons, and with the production capacity of Forsyte, Huaxi Bio is releasing greater ambitions.

three

An insurmountable technical obstacle

As a biotechnology company and a listed company of science and technology innovation board, it is far from enough to have scale and production capacity, and the core technology is the secret of being invincible for a long time. Zhao Yan once pointed out that medical grade hyaluronic acid represents the technical height of West China Biology. And counting the medical qualifications of Huaxi Bio, we can't help but sigh that enterprises like Huawei, Maotai and Huaxi Bio can't be surpassed so simply.

When it comes to pharmaceutical-grade hyaluronic acid, it is clear to the industry that the most difficult thing is qualification. Up to now, Huaxi Bio is still the only enterprise in China that has the approval number for the production of sodium hyaluronate and pharmaceutical excipients by fermentation and realizes commercial production.

Moreover, Huaxi Bio has a very comprehensive global registration qualification, with 7 registrations in China and 23 registrations in the world, including the European Union, the United States, South Korea, Canada, Japan, Russia and India. Obtaining these qualifications requires cutting-edge technology, continuous R&D investment, and long approval time and cost. From this point of view, even though many enterprises and capitals are now entering the hyaluronic acid industry, some barriers can be owned without talking about it.

In 20 18, China accounted for 50% of the global sales of pharmaceutical-grade hyaluronic acid raw materials, which was about 10 ton, while Huaxi Bio's sales of pharmaceutical-grade raw materials in that year was 9.5 tons, which was almost monopolized, so it was conceivable that it had the right to speak in the global industry.

four

A man blessed by God again.

Another technology that has attracted the attention of the industry is its famous "enzymatic digestion". Before Huaxi Bio pioneered this technology, the molecular weight of hyaluronic acid could not be controlled at will. Chemical method is the only way to obtain small molecular hyaluronic acid, but this method is easy to destroy the molecular structure of hyaluronic acid, with high impurities, high energy consumption and high cost, and it is difficult to produce in large scale.

20 1 1, God once again visited Guo, a Shandong man who doesn't like to talk and likes to show off, and is bored in the laboratory every day. After successfully studying the fermentation method, Guo successfully developed the enzymatic digestion method to prepare low molecular weight oligomeric hyaluronic acid, which achieved his two technological breakthroughs in the field of hyaluronic acid.

The birth of enzymatic digestion actually originated from an experimental failure of Guo in the 1990s. According to people around him, that incident worried Guo for the next 20 years. One day in the 1990s, he kept the hyaluronic acid obtained by the team in an equipment container and went home from work. The next day, when an important experiment was needed, it was found that hyaluronic acid was all gone, which almost delayed the important experimental process. What degraded hyaluronic acid is a question deep in his mind.

The strength of enzymatic digestion technology is that it can freely control the molecular weight of hyaluronic acid, and solve the problems of structural damage of hyaluronic acid caused by chemical degradation. The degradation cycle is shortened from chemical degradation of 12- 15 days to 5-6 hours, and the ability to reduce costs and increase efficiency is extraordinary. This enzyme digestion technology also won the highest prize in the patent field-21China Patent Gold Award.

Hyaluronic acid with different molecular weight, especially low molecular weight, was obtained, which greatly expanded the application field of hyaluronic acid. Based on enzyme digestion technology, the advantages of Huaxi biology in the field of raw materials are once again riding the dust. According to the sales staff in the industry, Huaxi Bio has more than 200 specifications of hyaluronic acid raw materials alone. It can produce hyaluronic acid with the largest molecular weight (above 3 million Da) and the smallest in the world. These raw materials can be used in different fields, such as cancer drugs, surgery, cosmetics, food and so on. No wonder Huaxi Bio's share price soared this year, and the capital market relied on growth.

five

Commercial layout, women know women better.

Zhao Yan once said that if a company doesn't make a terminal, it won't know where the market is and where the consumers are, which is very passive.

Boss Zhao has always had a unique vision. From the gold rush in Hainan, to Gai Lou on Chang 'an Avenue, to the drastic reform of Huaxi Bio, every business decision is accurate and efficient.

Many people in China first knew that hyaluronic acid was used for medical beauty, but many people didn't know that the first approved cross-linked hyaluronic acid filling product in China was produced by Huaxi Bio in 20 12, which broke the monopoly of foreign brands on the market and filled the domestic gap.

In fact, limited by technical factors, in the global medical and beauty market, the United States mainly produces single-phase crosslinked products, while Europe mainly produces two-phase crosslinked products. Runzhi, a medical beauty brand owned by Huaxi Bio, is still the first hyaluronic acid brand in the market with both single-phase and two-phase crosslinked hemp products.

In recent years, a new category of hyaluronic acid has appeared in the skin care market, which is very popular. It is said that the earliest small formula was privately used by Boss Zhao. Based on years of medical genes and experience, Huaxi Bio applies medical product thinking to the innovation and production of skin care products. Hyaluronic acid secondary stock solution adopts aseptic filling technology of eye drops, creating a new category of skin care products. Viya, a woman's good sister, said that the cumulative sales of Runbaiyan hyaluronic acid secondary solution reached 65.438+0.2 billion pieces, higher than Mount Everest.

Huaxi Bio also cooperated with the Palace Museum the year before last to launch a set of creative explosion products "Palace lipstick". It is said that Dean Dan Jixiang is worried about everyone. He can only say that the lipstick in the Forbidden City is good everywhere, but it is too hot to buy.

In recent years, Huaxi Bio has blossomed everywhere in the C-end field, from skin care and essence to shampoo and pets, and the research and development achievements of 20 years have begun to harvest.

According to internal sources, Boss Zhao personally established the current scientific research system of Huaxi Bio. Under Guo's training and guidance, a group of people in different fields can name their own studios with their own names or codes, specializing in one field, which makes people see the taste of Huawei's research and development. Many people say that Huaxi, like Huawei, started from basic research and reduced its dimension to attack the C end with the depth of the B end.

Didn't Li Ka-shing say that all success is not accidental? The gust of West China creatures that we just saw today has actually been blowing for more than 20 years.