When Forbes first launched the World’s Billionaires list in 1987, the biggest fortunes in pharmaceuticals were held by Europeans like the Hoffman family of Switzerland and several Japanese drug company tycoons. Today, the picture is quite different. Of the 10 richest healthcare billionaires on Forbes’ new list of the World’s Billionaires, fully half are Chinese, three are European and none are Japanese.
Healthcare is booming in the Middle Kingdom. Spending on healthcare in China is forecast to reach $1 trillion this year, up from $375 billion in 2011, according to consulting firm McKinsey. That rapid growth in the market has helped turn some of the country’s healthcare entrepreneurs into billionaires.
The richest person in healthcare this year is Zhong Huijuan, who founded Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group in 1995. She chairs the company, which went public on the Hong Kong stock exchange in 2019. And she’s married to the second richest healthcare billionaire, Sun Piaoyang, who runs a separate pharma firm, Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine.
Drug development and vaccine development are urgent topics amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. And some of the world’s richest healthcare billionaires are tied to companies actively involved in those two areas — with efforts directly aimed at COVID-19. Li Xiting and Xu Hang, both of whom are Chinese, cofounded Shenzhen-based Mindray Medical International, which makes medical devices including ventilators. In late March, the firm produced and shipped ventilators and patient monitors to Italy, whose hospitals were struggling to treat an influx of COVID-19 patients.
Twin German brothers Andreas and Thomas Struengmann are the biggest shareholders and were early backers of U.S. listed German firm BioNTech, whose shares soared in mid-March on news that the biotech firm is partnering with Pfizer and Fosun Pharmaceuticals of China to create a coronavirus vaccine. As a result, each Struengmann is worth more than double what they were worth a year ago.
Here are the top 10 richest people in healthcare; net worths are as of March 18, 2020.
1–ZHONG HUIJUAN
NET WORTH: $14.6 BILLION
COUNTRY: CHINA
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
A former chemistry teacher, Zhong is now CEO and co-owner — with her daughter Sun Yuan — of Chinese drug firm Hansoh Pharmaceutical. She is also the second-wealthiest woman in China. Hansoh Pharmaceutical shares have risen more than 40% since its IPO on the Hong Kong exchange in July 2019.
2 – SUN PIAOYANG
NET WORTH: BILLION
COUNTRY: CHINA
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
Sun was a technician at a state-owned pharmaceutical company that went public and was renamed Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine. He worked his way up to CEO of Jiangsu Hengrui, where he is also the majority shareholder. He is married to Zhong Huijuan.
3 – LI XITING
NET WORTH: $11.6 BILLION
COUNTRY: CHINA
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
Li is the founder and CEO of Mindray Medical International, which makes medical devices for hospitals around the world. He ramped up production when demand for Mindray’s devices skyrocketed amid the coronavirus pandemic.
4 – XU HANG
NET WORTH: $11.2 BILLION
COUNTRY: CHINA
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
Cofounder and chairman of Mindray Medical, Xu doubled his wealth in the past year. After the Covid-19 outbreak reached Europe and the US, shares of Mindray rose over 30%.
5 – THOMAS STRUENGMANN
NET WORTH: $9.6 BILLION
COUNTRY: GERMANY
6 – ANDREAS STRUENGMANN
NET WORTH: $9.6 BILLION
COUNTRY: GERMANY
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
Identical twin brothers Thomas and Andreas Struengmann founded generic drugmaker Hexal in 1986 and sold it to pharmaceutical giant Novartis for $7 billion in 2005. They have since invested in a handful of other biotech firms and together own nearly half of U.S.-listed German company BioNTech, which is developing a coronavirus vaccine. Shares of BioNTech have soared, lifting each brother’s fortune from $4.4 billion last year.
7 – CYRUS POONAWALLA
NET WORTH: $8.2 BILLION
COUNTRY: INDIA
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
The Serum Institute of India founded by Poonawalla is the world’s largest vaccine maker, producing vaccines for measles, polio, tetanus and more. In February, the Serum Institute teamed up with U.S. synthetic biology firm Codagenix to work on a coronavirus vaccine.
8 – ERNESTO BERTARELLI
NET WORTH: $8 BILLION
COUNTRY: SWITZERLAND
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
Bertarelli inherited pharmaceutical company Serono in 1998 and shifted its focus to biotechnology. He tops the list of Swiss billionaires, and invests in drug companies and commercial real estate.
9 – CARL COOK
NET WORTH: $8 BILLION
COUNTRY: USA
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
He inherited the Cook Group from his parents, who started the medical device manufacturer in the spare bedroom of their Bloomington, Indiana apartment in 1963.
10 – CHENG BANG
NET WORTH: $7.6 BILLION
COUNTRY: CHINA
SOURCE OF WEALTH:
Chen chairs Aier Eye Hospital Group, China’s largest ophthalmology chain, with about 200 clinics in China. It also has a presence in the U.S., Europe and Hong Kong. The company’s shares trade on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange.
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