The academic couple both graduated from Peking University, studied in the United States for Ph.D., and returned to China to start a business with a net worth of 49 billion

On the 2020 Hurun Report, there are at least 66 Wen businessmen with a net worth of more than 2 billion, and the richest man is a couple who are top academics.

They graduated from Peking University together and went to Columbia University in the United States for further studies, where they both received doctorates.

After their marriage, the couple joined forces to start a business and took the company public together. With a net worth of 49 billion, they have been ranked as the "richest businessman in Wenzhou" for many years in a row.

They are: Li Ge and Zhao Ning, the founders of WuXi AppTec.

Some people say this about Li Ge and his wife:

Li Ge focuses on the field of pharmaceutical CRO. He uses his own advantages to continuously provide services at a certain stage to other pharmaceutical companies.

Jack Ma wants to "let the world have no difficult business", while Li Ge wants to "let the world have no difficult medicines to make and diseases that are difficult to treat".

Where does Li Ge have the confidence to say such a thing?

After learning about his entrepreneurial story, I discovered that he had achieved at least half of his goals, and the other half only needed time to complete.

A top-notch couple sets out to start a business

Li Ge’s ancestral home is Wenzhou, Zhejiang, but he was born and raised in Beijing.

Li Ge, who was born in 1967, has been a top student since he was a child.

He studied at the High School Affiliated to Peking University and never expected to change his destiny by passing the college entrance examination, because in his view, getting admitted to Peking University was a natural thing.

So when he filled out his application form after the college entrance examination, he only wrote Peking University.

As soon as the college entrance examination results came out, Li Ge was indeed admitted to Peking University. However, he missed his favorite physics department and was admitted to the chemistry department of Peking University by accident.

In 1989, Li Ge and Zhao Ning graduated from the Department of Chemistry of Peking University.

At that time, there was a craze for going abroad in China, and many top students chose to go abroad for further study after graduation.

Columbia University in the United States just announced directly that it would recruit a group of students from Peking University.

So, Li Ge and Zhao Ning went to the United States together to study at Columbia University.

Four years later, the two obtained doctorates in organic chemistry from Columbia University.

In his third year of further studies, Li Ge invented "labeled chemical technology" with his mentor. This important scientific research result allowed him and his mentor to obtain their first venture capital investment.

In 1993, Li Ge’s mentor led researchers from the Department of Chemistry at Columbia University to form the pharmaceutical company Pharmacopeia Drug Discovery Inc, or PDD for short.

Li Ge joined PDD Company as the founding scientist and scientific research director.

Backed by strong scientific research capabilities, PDD was successfully listed on the NASDAQ in the United States in 1995 and began R&D outsourcing.

When the company was listed in the United States, 28-year-old Li Ge immediately became a well-known successful person.

In 1999, he was invited back to Peking University to give a speech.

In addition to the speech, he conducted an inspection of the domestic market and immediately discovered keenly:

He saw business opportunities.

Coincidentally, in 2000, six PDD executives and shareholders continued to sell their stocks on a large scale, causing PDD's stock price to fall to freezing point.

Because he did not want to miss the business opportunity and was dissatisfied with the status quo, Li Ge immediately decided to return to China to start a business.

A helpless move in the context of the times

In 2000, Li Ge, Zhao Ning, his wife Liu Xiaozhong, and Zhang Zhaohui founded WuXi AppTec in Waigaoqiao, Shanghai.

At that time, China had just joined the WTO, and international competition was becoming increasingly fierce. If you wanted to buy out the production license of a patented new drug, you would need at least US$500-600.

Moreover, 97.4% of China’s Western medicine varieties are imitations, and Chinese patent medicines also remain at a very low level, making it difficult to withstand the strong impact of international competition.

Li Ge realized that it was necessary to develop innovative new drugs with independent intellectual property rights.

When he went abroad, China had just started reform and opening up. In 11 years, he received an American education and became accustomed to the American lifestyle and work model.

At that time, China's economic development and national living standards were far from what they are today. Coupled with the scarcity of international students, "returnees" were still scarce talents in the country.

After returning to China, Li Ge also spent some time re-adapting to the domestic living environment and work style.

Many years later, he concluded:

If you throw away what you have learned from studying abroad, you will lose the meaning of studying abroad, but you cannot worship foreigners.

Li Ge indeed summarized this point well, and it can be regarded as advice to "returnees".

At first, Li Ge wanted to take the road of independent pharmaceutical production, but he encountered difficulties in the first step of building a chemical laboratory.

It is impossible to buy a fume hood specifically for laboratories in China, and no manufacturer can produce it. In desperation, Li Ge could only draw the drawings and make it by himself.

Moreover, the domestic demand for pharmaceutical technology was not high. At that time, pharmaceutical companies were all legally copying drugs. The state had particularly strict control over independent research and development of new drugs, and it was very likely that they would not be able to be put on the market.

The most important thing is that pharmaceutical costs are high and the research and development cycle is long. Initially, WuXi AppTec only had a 700-square-meter laboratory and 4 employees.

For Li Ge at that time, independent pharmaceutical production was a fantasy, so he could only find another way out and choose the ORC model.

International background, local operation

By chance, Li Ge discovered that the template molecule technology in his hand could be used as the basis for the research and development of new drugs, helping pharmaceutical companies to increase their research and development speed. Reduce R&D costs.

Moreover, domestic labor and resource costs are advantageous, and the country also has corresponding policy incentives.

In addition, the four founders at that time were all people who had returned from studying abroad. During these years of working abroad, they had accumulated rich network resources.

Li Ge took advantage of the trend to formulate a development strategy of "international background, local operation" and decided to provide R&D services to major pharmaceutical companies and biopharmaceutical institutions around the world.

Li Ge’s old employer PDD is one of WuXi AppTec’s earliest customers.

Later, through the operations of PDD and other founders, WuXi AppTec established relationships with many international pharmaceutical companies.

During the period from 2000 to 2008, most of WuXi AppTec’s customers came from overseas.

Li Ge successfully introduced the pharmaceutical R&D outsourcing model to China, pioneering the localization of CRO, and is known as the first successful person in China's pharmaceutical R&D outsourcing industry.

Under his leadership, WuXi AppTec developed rapidly and was successfully listed in the United States in 2007. It was hailed as "the first time Wall Street paid for Chinese ideas."

Li Ge’s success has given a boost to “Chinese R&D” in the pharmaceutical industry.

After obtaining financing from the New York Stock Exchange, WuXi AppTec quickly acquired American biopharmaceutical factories and equipment companies.

By 2015, because U.S. stock investors placed too much emphasis on performance, the U.S. stock market seemed particularly unfriendly to CRO pharmaceutical companies like WuXi AppTec, which had to invest costs and increase R&D efforts.

Li Ge made a new decision: to withdraw from the U.S. stock market.

At this time, the domestic capital market has basically matured. After withdrawing from the New York Stock Exchange, Li Ge quickly obtained a new round of investment in the country and was listed in Hong Kong in 2017.

After its listing, WuXi AppTec became a unicorn company, with its stock price rising as high as 417.34%, and it soon became a company valued at 100 billion.

According to Li Ge’s recollection:

As the actual controller of WuXi AppTec, Li Ge has cashed out more than 20 billion yuan in total by selling stocks.

But this has not affected the continued rise of WuXi AppTec's stock.

Someone said:

This evaluation is very pertinent.

Li Ge’s precise vision prompted him to seize every opportunity under the tumult of the times.

In 2018, Li Ge and Zhao Ning announced an investment of 100 million yuan to establish a Peking University Research Fund to support the development of scientific research and education.

Zhang Ying of Matrix Partners said:

With the development of WuXi AppTec, Li Ge has already achieved financial freedom, but I don’t know if he still remembers his original intention.

I hope that "there is no disease in the world that is difficult to treat" is not an empty talk.

What do you think of Li Ge’s entrepreneurial story?

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Author: July