On April 21, Hualan Vaccine issued a major announcement: Ms. An Wenjue, aged 37, was formally elected Chairwoman of the company’s third board of directors and appointed its legal representative.
This personnel change is far more than a simple generational shift. It marks the official entry of this billion-market-cap vaccine industry leader into a new development phase helmed by a post 85s leader.
As the daughter of An Kang, founder of the Hualan Group, An Wenjue’s succession represents both the natural continuation of family business inheritance and a critical step for Hualan Vaccine to pursue high-quality development and breakthroughs amid profound restructuring in the vaccine industry. This transition not only shapes the future of a leading enterprise but also reflects the broader trend and thinking around “second-generation succession” in the pharmaceutical sector.

From Finance to Overall Leadership
An Wenjue’s path to the top has been built on more than a decade of solid experience within the Hualan system, with no shortcuts.
Public information shows she was born in 1989 and holds a degree in statistics from Simon Fraser University in Canada. She joined Hualan Biological in June 2015, starting as an assistant manager in the finance department. She later served as finance manager and vice president of Hualan Vaccine, and has been a director and general manager of Hualan Vaccine since April 2022.
Following the board reshuffle, An Wenjue will serve concurrently as Chairwoman and General Manager, overseeing the company’s strategic planning and daily operations in full—a true transition from “executor” to “helmsman.”

Completion of Generational Transition
The core of this board reshuffle is the smooth handover of leadership from the founder’s era to the second generation. An Kang (An Wenjue’s father), the former chairman, along with director Ma Xiaowei and independent director Yang Dongsheng, officially stepped down upon the expiration of their terms.
As the founder of Hualan Biological, An Kang’s retirement signals that Hualan Vaccine has formally exited the “founder-led era” and entered a new stage of standardized and professionalized development.
The composition of the new board precisely balances “family inheritance” and “professional governance”: An Wenjue serves as Chairwoman and General Manager; Her sister An Wenqi (PhD in biochemistry from Jilin University, with deep R&D expertise) was elected non-independent director, providing core technical support; Pan Ruowen (58, senior engineer in medical biology), executive vice president, serves as employee representative director to ensure management stability and execution; Three senior experts—Zhang Jingang, Zhang Shoutao and Luo Zongju—act as independent directors to provide professional guidance for decision-making.

Profiles of Pharma Heirs
An Wenjue’s succession is not an isolated case. The pharmaceutical industry has seen its most intensive wave of second-generation leadership takeovers in 2025–2026, with a wave of post 85s and post 90s executives rising to the top, including Xiao Lihao of Kanion Pharmaceutical, Li Xinyi of Sinocare, and Li Nanxing of Zhejiang Medicine.
On the surface, this represents generational renewal marked by youth, international outlook and professionalism. Yet it also reflects the natural continuation of family control—and many second-generation successors have taken the reins involuntarily.
Recent pharma heirs fall into three distinct profiles with widely varying capabilities. Involuntary successors account for a large share and face the most acute risks.
Xiao Lihao, 32, of Kanion Pharmaceutical, son of founder Xiao Wei, joined the company in 2020 and rose step by step from Communist Youth League secretary and chairman assistant to chairman of a subsidiary and vice president—a typical stepped family training path.
However, the company has suffered a sharp business downturn: revenue plunged 19.86% in 2024 and a further 24% in the first three quarters of 2025, with a cliff-like decline in sales of core traditional Chinese medicine products.
Li Xinyi, 36, of Sinocare represents a classic “reluctant successor.” A returnee with a master’s degree, she took over in January 2026. Only 20 days later, the company warned of a 60%–74% plunge in net profit, weighed down by huge losses at its U.S. subsidiary and ongoing litigation, forcing her to react to a cascade of crises.
The second category is resource-dependent successors, who leverage the networks and resources accumulated by their predecessors. The Xie siblings of Sino Biopharmaceutical, post 90s leaders for nearly a decade, have driven the company’s shift from generics to innovative drugs, achieving double-digit growth in revenue and net profit in 2025.
Lou Jing of 3S Bio excels in capital operations; through acquiring the brand Mandi, the company focused on the hair-growth sector, reaching annual sales of ¥1.4 billion and a 57% market share.
The third and rarest category is breakthrough successors, who demonstrate genuine potential for sustainable leadership. Li Jiahong, 36, of Tonghua Dongbao took charge in March 2024. In just 18 months, she led the company to achieve ¥1.202 billion in net profit in the first three quarters, a staggering year-on-year surge of 1,911%. Through restructuring the R&D pipeline, focusing on insulin exports, and cutting inefficient businesses, she delivered hard results that proved her independent capabilities, setting a benchmark for second-generation turnaround.
After Li Nanxing of Zhejiang Medicine assumed full control in June 2024, he rapidly promoted product restructuring and market transformation, leading to a recovery in 2024 performance and a record quarterly high in Q3 2025. His grassroots experience and international vision proved pivotal to the turnaround.
Amid normalized volume-based procurement, intensified industry competition, and mounting innovation pressure, pharma heirs face the severe challenge of “easy succession, hard preservation, and even harder sustainable leadership.” With widening gaps in capability, who can truly establish a firm foothold and complete a successful long-term transition has become a focal point of industry attention.