A lab technician at work at the production line of Foci Pharmaceutical Co Ltd in Lanzhou. (Photo/Xinhua)
Last year, the company moved its headquarters to an industrial park in Lanzhou New Area, where it has set up an intelligent or smart manufacturing plant and a digital workshop.
The company strives to improve production efficiency, lower production cost, enhance manufacturing environment, as well as increase the competitiveness and added value of TCM, company executives said.
It has also built a medical industrial park in Weiyuan, Gansu province, and took part in the nation's TCM standardization project, in an effort to build an enterprise with an industry-wide chain, to guarantee top quality of its medicines.
"As an international traditional Chinese medicine company, ever since our establishment, the company has been exporting traditional Chinese medicine to the outside world. During the export process, quality is always our priority. It's high quality that helps the company's brand to make an impact on the international market," Sun said.
For many years, the company has been focusing on research in TCM to make them conform to international standards. This effort has paid off: when the company entered the Brazilian market in 2017, it needed just two months to go through the registration of over 50 of its products.
To train local doctors, it established the TCM Development Center in Brazil. With the help of the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products, Foci Pharma connected with Brazil's health department, to help promote TCM in Brazil.
"We actively explore new modes of trade in TCM services, and make efforts in disseminating TCM culture, establishing national standards for TCM, promoting TCM to enter other countries' public healthcare systems, establishing overseas TCM centers, training local TCM professionals, as well as establishing a commercial presence overseas.
"We aim at accelerating the process of TCM internalization and standardization, to make sure it develops in a healthy and sustainable manner overseas," Sun said.
In 2017, the company's sales revenue was 501.14 million yuan ($74.23 million), up almost 38 percent year-on-year. More than 28 million yuan of its revenue, or 5.6 percent, came from overseas, up more than 14 percent year-on-year.
In the same year, Foci Pharma was among the top 10 TCM exporters awarded by the China Chamber of Commerce for Import and Export of Medicines and Health Products.
