Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals
Chinese insulin maker pushing into GLP-1 weight-loss drugs at home and abroad.
On the record
Checkpoint: H2 2026 bofanglutide readouts against oral GLP-1 rivals, plus 2026 NRDL reimbursement decision
The call
Gan & Lee's insulin business stays profitable on home turf while its weight-loss drug bet has to prove itself against Lilly and Novo Nordisk products already on the market.
Gan & Lee makes insulin and other diabetes medicines, primarily selling in China where the government buys from local companies. The company has a real advantage in China's insulin business because it has lower costs than foreign rivals like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, and the government prefers buying from Chinese manufacturers. However, the company's growth story depends on new obesity drugs (bofanglutide and GZR4) that won't arrive until late 2026, and by then Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk will already be selling their own obesity pills in China.
Why
01
AI pressure: None apparent. AI drug-discovery tools speed up rivals' pipelines industry-wide but no AI product is taking Gan & Lee's customers directly. Could AI do the core job? Unlikely.
02
Bigger players: Eli Lilly (oral orforglipron) and Novo Nordisk (oral Wegovy). Both have already launched oral GLP-1 drugs, the format Gan & Lee's bofanglutide still has to prove it can match or beat. Could a giant copy it? Probably.
03
What protects it. Low-cost domestic manufacturing and top ranking in China's insulin procurement tenders keep its core insulin business profitable even as prices get squeezed.
What would change this call
2026 NRDL cycle decision on bofanglutide reimbursement. Shows whether China's system will subsidize Gan & Lee's GLP-1 bet or favor rivals.
Q2-Q3 2026 revenue reported vs Q1 2026's 10.84% YoY decline. Shows whether the Q1 drop was temporary or a sustained loss of sales momentum.
Next China VBP insulin renewal pricing outcome. Shows whether further procurement price cuts squeeze Gan & Lee's core insulin margins.
Q2-Q3 2026 revenue reported vs Q1 2026's 10.84% YoY decline. Shows whether the Q1 drop was temporary or a sustained loss of sales momentum.
Next China VBP insulin renewal pricing outcome. Shows whether further procurement price cuts squeeze Gan & Lee's core insulin margins.
Key numbers
- 2025 revenue CNY 4.05B, up 33% YoY
- Q1 2026 revenue fell 10.84% YoY to CNY 878M
- JW Pharmaceutical paid $81.1M upfront for bofanglutide rights
Named risks
- Q1 2026 revenue decline of 10.84% YoY signals possible margin pressure from VBP procurement resets.
- Bofanglutide entering GLP-1 obesity market after Lilly's oral orforglipron and Novo's oral Wegovy already approved and shipping.
- Global insulin market share stuck near 1% versus Novo's 77% and Lilly's 9% per 2026-04-02 estimate.
- Recurring China National Volume-Based Procurement cycles historically cut insulin prices up to ~43%.
- Headcount growth stalling or reversing in 2025 after prior double-digit annual increases.
Rivals, as read in July 2026
| Rival | Direction | Evidence |
|---|---|---|
| Eli Lilly | losing to | Lilly's oral orforglipron (Foundayo) approved by FDA 2026-03-31, ahead of Gan & Lee's bofanglutide readouts |
| Novo Nordisk | losing to | Novo's oral Wegovy pill approved 2025-12-22 and holds an estimated 77% global insulin market share per 2026-04-02 estimate |
| Tonghua Dongbao | contesting | Largest Chinese-owned insulin rival competing for domestic procurement tender volume as of 2026-01-27 |
| United Laboratories | gaining on | Licensed GLP-1 triple agonist UBT251 to Novo Nordisk for $2B, reported 2026-01-27 |
| Sanofi | contesting | Part of multinational trio (with Novo, Lilly) historically holding ~90% of Chinese insulin market |
Questions people ask
- Is Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals profitable?
- Yes. Gan & Lee reported CNY 4.05 billion in revenue for full-year 2025, up 33.06% year over year, with net income of CNY 1.01 billion as of 2025-12-31, according to stockanalysis.com data published 2026-07-14.
- Is Gan & Lee's revenue growth slowing in 2026?
- Yes, signs point that way. After 33.06% full-year growth in 2025, Q1 2026 quarterly revenue fell to CNY 878.11 million, down 10.84% year over year, per stockanalysis.com as of 2026-03-31, even though trailing-twelve-month revenue was still up 13.7%.
- Who is Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals' biggest competitor?
- Domestically, Tonghua Dongbao is its closest Chinese insulin rival; globally, Novo Nordisk (about 77% global insulin share) and Eli Lilly (about 9%) dwarf Gan & Lee's roughly 1% global insulin share, per a 2026-04-02 market research estimate.
- Could AI replace Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals' core business?
- Unlikely. Gan & Lee's core revenue comes from regulated biomanufacturing of insulin analogs and physical drug delivery devices, requiring clinical trials, GMP certification, and hospital distribution, none of which are substitutable by generative AI tools as of 2026-07-15.
- Is Gan & Lee's GLP-1 pipeline competitive against Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk?
- It's unproven. Gan & Lee's bofanglutide met Phase 3 weight-loss endpoints in China and Phase 2 endpoints in the US as of 2026-06-12, but it launches after Eli Lilly's oral orforglipron (approved 2026-03-31) and Novo's oral Wegovy (approved 2025-12-22) already shipped.
- Who owns Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals?
- Gan & Lee is publicly traded on the Shanghai Stock Exchange under ticker 603087.SH, founded in 1998 by Zhong Ru Gan, Yi Ru Gan, and Xi Ru Gan. PitchBook describes it as formerly VC-backed with about 597 million shares outstanding as of 2026-07-17.
Timeline
- 2026-07-15UAE approves Gan & Lee insulin glargine pre-filled pen (2026-07-02) and Honduras approval (2026-06-30)
- 2026-06-12SUPER-3 trial and bofanglutide Phase 3 China and Phase 2 US studies meet primary endpoints
- 2026-04-09Gan & Lee signs $81.1M exclusive bofanglutide license deal with JW Pharmaceutical
- 2026-03-31GZR4 once-weekly basal insulin meets primary endpoints in Phase 3 SUPER-1 and SUPER-2 trials
- 2026-03-31Q1 2026 revenue falls 10.84% YoY to CNY 878.11M despite 2025 full-year growth of 33%
- 2026-03-31FDA approves Eli Lilly's oral orforglipron (Foundayo) as first NME under Priority Voucher Program
- 2025-12-31Full-year 2025 revenue reaches CNY 4.05B, net income CNY 1.01B
- 2025-12-22FDA approves Novo Nordisk's oral Wegovy pill
- 2024-12-31Gan & Lee ranks first by procurement demand in China's 2024 National Insulin-Specific Centralized Procurement
- 2024-12-18FDA clears IND for GZR18 (bofanglutide) for US Phase 2 head-to-head trial vs. tirzepatide
Revision history
26 July 2026
First assessed. Protection under test. The text above is fixed as of this date and is not edited afterwards.
In the same band
Sources
- Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals. (SHA) (2026-07-14)
- Gan & Lee 2026 Company Profile: Stock Performance & Earnings (2026-07-17)
- Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Number of Employees 2026 (2026-06-29)
- Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Announces U.S. FDA Clearance of the IND Application (2024-12-18)
- China Diabetes Care Drugs Market Size, Share Analysis & Trends (2026-01-27)
- Insulin Drugs Market 2026: Companies Competing Through Partnerships and Innovation (2026-04-02)
- Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Signs Exclusive License Agreement with JW Pharmaceutical (2026-04-09)
- Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals' Once-Weekly Basal Insulin GZR4 Meets Primary Endpoints (2026-03-31)
- Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals Achieves Significant Progress in Its Dual Pipeline (2026-06-12)
- FDA Approves First New Molecular Entity Under National Priority Voucher Program (2026-03-31)
- FDA Approves Once-Daily Wegovy Pill - First Oral GLP-1 Medicine for Weight Loss (2025-12-22)
- China to Carry out National Insulin Procurement (2021-03-08)