[Fine Chemicals] He made hyaluronic acid drop from 1 million to cabbage price, but in the end couldn't grasp the industry's lifeline
At noon today, Bloomage Biotech posted an obituary: Guo Xueping, 61, passed away after treatment for illness failed. Most people probably haven't heard this name, but you've definitely used a hydrating spray, or gotten a water-light injection, or worn a hyaluronic acid mask. If you trace it back further, to that old lab extracting hyaluronic acid from rooster combs, his name would be on the wall. You could say that without him and his team, there'd be no hyaluronic acid as we know it today. This actually ties closely to all our lives, so today let's talk about him and his hyaluronic acid brand.
Before 1990, China's pharmaceutical-grade hyaluronic acid was entirely imported. The highest-purity raw material once cost as much as 1 million RMB per kilogram—not 100 RMB, but 1 million. Around the same time, international market quotes were about $200,000 per kilogram. Calling it 'liquid gold' is no exaggeration. How primitive was the extraction? Ling Peixue and his team tried several generations of cow eyes, pig eyes, and rooster combs, finally settling on rooster combs. One kilogram of hyaluronic acid required tens of thousands of rooster combs. What Guo Xueping did was turn this from lab handcraft into industrial production. The report states he 'pioneered microbial fermentation production technology for hyaluronic acid in China and achieved large-scale production, and pioneered large-scale production technology for precise control of the full spectrum of molecular weights of hyaluronic acid.' In plain terms: first, make hyaluronic acid fermentable in batches, no longer extracted from rooster combs; second, cut the same batch of raw material into various molecular weights—for skincare, injections, eye care, and ingestion, each with its own grade. Fermentation cut production costs by 90%. According to Guo Xueping's public introduction in 2022, the company's annual hyaluronic acid output grew from a few hundred jin in early years to over 400 tons, an increase of more than 1,000 times. With the three cards of technology, quality, and cost, his team brought China's high-end pharmaceutical-grade and cosmetic-grade hyaluronic acid to official and pharmaceutical company recognition in the US, EU, Japan, and South Korea. The reason Bloomage Biotech could sit at the top of global hyaluronic acid raw materials is that he laid the foundation. And Ling Peixue—now founder of the Dr. Ling brand—was the technical source taking hyaluronic acid from 0 to 1, while Guo Xueping was the industrialization driver from 1 to 100. Both are very important.
When you mention hyaluronic acid, you have to mention Freda, Bloomage Biotech, and even Dr. Ling—these companies.
First, one thing must be clear: they all originated from the same company.
Back to 1983, starting from an old factory building, to two listed companies.
In 1983, Ling Peixue was a master's student, and his advisor Zhang Tianming gave him the direction of extracting hyaluronic acid from rooster combs.
This graduation thesis was later described by Zhang Tianming as 'writing out a 3-billion industry.'
In 1986, Ling Peixue graduated and joined the Shandong Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences, starting hyaluronic acid industrialization research in an old factory with 30,000 RMB in startup funds.
In '92, the team pioneered industrial production of hyaluronic acid via biological fermentation in China.
In '93, Ling Peixue led the establishment of Shandong Biochemical Pharmaceutical Company, the predecessor of Freda Group.
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