Recently, Qianjin Pharmaceutical issued an announcement stating that its subsidiary, Qianjin Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical, has officially received approval from the National Medical Products Administration for the marketing of its generic drug " Lactulose Oral Solution ." This drug will primarily be used for the treatment of chronic or habitual constipation, as well as the prevention and treatment of hepatic encephalopathy.

Of particular note is the project's return on investment . The announcement shows that Qianjin Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical's cumulative R&D investment in lactulose oral solution is 2.9505 million yuan . According to data from Yaozhi, the total sales of lactulose oral solution in the domestic market reached 2.356 billion yuan in 2025 .

This means that Qianjin Pharmaceutical has successfully entered a mature market with annual sales exceeding 2.3 billion yuan with a research and development cost of less than 3 million yuan.

01
A "long-standing" figure in the field of gastroenterology

From the perspective of input-output ratio, lactulose oral solution can be regarded as one of the most cost-effective approved projects of Qianjin Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical in recent years.

The cumulative R&D investment of RMB 2.9505 million is relatively low in the development of generic chemical drugs, which is related to the high technological maturity of lactulose oral solution dosage form and the high accessibility of raw materials .

As a Class 4 generic chemical drug, this product is considered to have passed the consistency evaluation, which means that it has the foundation to be comparable to the original drug in terms of quality and efficacy, paving the way for subsequent market access and centralized procurement bidding.

In terms of market space, lactulose oral solution is an "evergreen" in the field of digestive system drugs .

According to data from Yaozhi, in 2022, the total sales of this product in the three major domestic terminals exceeded 2 billion yuan for the first time , representing a year-on-year increase of 16.3%, and it remained among the top-ranked chemical drugs for treating constipation.

By 2025, sales in domestic public medical institutions alone will exceed 1.6 billion yuan. If retail and e-commerce terminals are included, the overall market size will reach 2.356 billion yuan.

Behind this data lies the rigid demand driven by China's accelerating aging process, the expanding base of patients with chronic diseases, and the public's increased attention to gut health.

From the perspective of the competitive landscape, the lactulose oral solution market is dominated by foreign companies . According to data from PharmNet, in 2025, Abbott and Hanmi Pharmaceutical ranked first and second in sales revenue among the three major domestic terminal markets, with market shares exceeding 38% and 27% respectively, totaling over 65%.

Foreign brands still account for a considerable proportion, indicating that the brand barriers of this product have not been completely broken, and there is still room for generic drug substitution.

For Qianjin Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical, leveraging its parent company's existing channel network in retail and medical terminals, as well as its improved digital marketing capabilities in recent years, it is expected to carve out a share in this highly competitive market.

It is worth noting that lactulose oral solution is also a popular product for companies to apply for approval . According to data from Yaozhi, as of May 2026, the number of companies that have passed the evaluation for lactulose oral solution has reached 55, making it one of the most competitive products.

The approval for Qianjin Pharmaceutical to enter the market at this time means that it may face pressure to reduce prices through centralized procurement in the future. However, with its huge clinical usage base, it may be able to achieve rapid volume growth by exchanging price for volume , contributing stable cash flow. This is highly consistent with Qianjin Pharmaceutical 's strategic plan to rapidly strengthen its cash cow team by 2026 .

02
Chemical medicine breaks the situation

The approval of lactulose oral solution, placed within the product approval landscape of Qianjin Pharmaceutical in the past two years, clearly reveals a key breakthrough in the chemical drug market .

In 2025, Qianjin Pharmaceutical achieved annual operating revenue of 3.629 billion yuan and net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company of 286 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 24.07%; R&D investment was 261 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11.43%.

As of the end of the reporting period, Qianjin Pharmaceutical had 138 projects under research, including 34 traditional Chinese medicines, 102 chemical drugs, and 2 derivatives. Chemical drugs accounted for more than 70%, demonstrating the company's clear intention to shift its resources toward chemical drugs .

In terms of product approvals, Qianjin Pharmaceutical is experiencing a period of great success.

In January 2026, the company and its subsidiaries were approved for three blockbuster generic drugs: dydrogesterone tablets, baricitinib tablets, and dapagliflozin tablets . The total R&D investment for the three products was RMB 8.8 million, RMB 3.5512 million, and RMB 4.6339 million, respectively.

Among them, dydrogesterone tablets mark a breakthrough for the company in gynecological chemical drugs; baricitinib tablets enter the autoimmune field; and dapagliflozin tablets are positioned in the major chronic disease track of diabetes.

Subsequently, on May 19, 2026, the company and Qianjin Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical obtained three more registration certificates for Dinogest tablets, potassium chloride granules, and Ailamod tablets .

With the approval of lactulose oral solution, the company has obtained 7 chemical drug approvals in just a few months, and its product portfolio is rapidly expanding from gynecology, autoimmune, metabolism, and cardiovascular to the digestive system.

A deeper strategic layout is reflected in the innovative drug pipeline .
According to the 2025 annual report, Qianjin Pharmaceutical currently has four innovative chemical drugs under development, mainly covering tumors and sleep disorders; in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, three innovative drug projects are progressing steadily, among which Huoxue Xiaoyi Granules have obtained clinical approval and entered the preparation stage for Phase II clinical trials, while Qianjin Yangchao Formula and Qianjin Gongzhan Formula are in the small-scale pharmaceutical trial stage.

Qianjin Pharmaceutical proposed to build a three-tiered product ecosystem: generic drugs to ensure the present, first-to-market/difficult-to-imitate drugs to build barriers, and innovative drugs to win the future. Lactulose oral solution, as a newly approved product, is a typical representative of the cash cow tier, while dydrogesterone tablets and sacubitril/valsartan sodium tablets (the company's first anti-heart failure drug) belong to the growth stock tier.

In terms of distribution channels and production capacity, Qianjin Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical's three products—adenosylcobalamin capsules, fluvoxamine tablets, and dopaminergic tablets—were selected in the eleventh batch of national centralized procurement. The shipment amount of these procured products reached 428 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 11%. After the renovation of the high-end formulation workshop, the production capacity has increased to 7 billion capsules, providing capacity support for the subsequent release of new products such as lactulose oral solution.

03
Potential Track

The market for constipation treatment, one of the indications for lactulose oral solution, is a large market that appears traditional but is actually undergoing structural changes .

In terms of market size, according to data from Yaozhi, the domestic market sales of lactulose oral solution have maintained a steady growth trend in recent years, with the overall scale exceeding 2 billion yuan. This scale makes lactulose the top-selling constipation medication in China, and it is undoubtedly a major product for constipation treatment.

From the perspective of the evolving competitive landscape, lactulose oral solution is shifting from being dominated by foreign companies to being replaced by domestic alternatives . With the advancement of consistency evaluation, generic drug companies are rapidly entering the market. As of early 2026, more than 50 companies had passed or were deemed to have passed the evaluation for this product, making it one of the most competitive drug categories.

This multi-polar market structure foreshadows two things: First, the future market price center will inevitably shift downwards, and the era of high premiums will gradually come to an end; second, for companies with strong cost control capabilities and wide channel coverage, centralized procurement is actually a shortcut to quickly seize market share.

From a horizontal comparison of treatment areas, the constipation drug market currently presents a hierarchical structure with chemical drugs as the mainstay, traditional Chinese medicine as a supplement, and biopharmaceuticals on the rise .

Osmotic laxatives such as lactulose and polyethylene glycol dominate the market; stimulant laxatives (such as bisacodyl) are limited in use due to safety concerns; prokinetic drugs (such as prucalopride) and novel secretagogues (such as linaclotide) are emerging in the field of intractable constipation.

It is worth noting that constipation treatment is upgrading from simply relieving constipation to regulating the gut microbiota and intervening in the neuro-gastrointestinal axis. In the future, compound preparations and targeted drugs may reshape the competitive landscape.

In the short term, lactulose will remain the preferred choice for primary healthcare institutions and retail pharmacies due to its decades of clinically proven safety, medical insurance reimbursement advantages, and low treatment costs.

04
Conclusion

The approval of Qianjin Pharmaceutical's lactulose oral solution, which represents a 2.95 million yuan R&D investment, corresponds to a mature market with annual sales of 2.4 billion yuan. This marks another milestone in Qianjin Pharmaceutical's strategy of breaking through and increasing efficiency in chemical drugs, moving from planning to implementation.

However, the challenges cannot be ignored. The lactulose oral solution market is crowded, and the risk of price reductions due to centralized procurement is looming. As a latecomer, whether Qianjin Xiangjiang Pharmaceutical can break through the encirclement of strong brands such as Abbott and Hanmi, as well as dozens of generic drug competitors, remains to be seen.

https://news.yaozh.com/archive/48171.html