HEC Group entered the pharmaceutical industry in 2001 by acquiring an API company in Yidu, Hubei, which had fewer than 100 employees and an annual turnover of not more than RMB 20 million. By the end of 2009, HEC Pharm employed more than 3000 skilled personnel in three GMP certified pharmaceutical companies, which have been favorably inspected by US and European authorities, and one of the largest domestic Research Institute. HEC is the third company authorized by Roche to produce the anti-H1N1 drug Oseltamivir. The corporation has six API synthesis plants, with a fermentation capacity of more than 6000 tons, and five dosage form plants producing fifteen APIs and more than thirty drug products. The marketing network covers 30 provinces in China, Europe and America. In 2009, pharmaceutical product sales turnover reached USD 500 million.