As annual reports for A-share companies are successively released, corporate salary levels have once again become a focal point. By early April 2026, 130 listed pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies had fully disclosed their per capita compensation data for 2025, which includes comprehensive labor costs such as salaries, bonuses, social security, and benefits.
Data from Tonghuashun Wencai reveals significant disparities in compensation within the pharmaceutical industry. The sectors of innovative drugs, CXO (contract research organization), and high-end medical devices lead significantly in per capita compensation due to high R&D investment and technological barriers. In contrast, traditional generic drugs, traditional Chinese medicine, and pharmaceutical distribution sectors are mired in compensation troughs, with the gap between the highest and lowest annual salaries exceeding eightfold. This compensation divergence, centered on "R&D value," outlines China's pharmaceutical industry's transition from imitation to innovation and from manufacturing to intelligent creation.
Innovative Drugs and CXO: R&D Talent as Core Assets Among the 130 pharmaceutical companies that disclosed data, innovative drugs (including chemical preparations and biological products) and the CXO sector constitute the primary drivers of high compensation. Over 60% of companies in these areas report per capita compensation exceeding 300,000 yuan, occupying eight of the top ten positions. Chemical innovative drug company Mengke Pharmaceuticals leads the A-share pharmaceutical sector with an average annual salary of 592,700 yuan, followed by biological drug firm InnoCare Pharma (516,900 yuan) and CXO company Hefu China (545,000 yuan), forming the "first tier" with salaries above 500,000 yuan.
A detailed analysis shows that among 27 companies in the chemical preparations sector, seven innovative enterprises, including Mengke Pharmaceuticals, Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (353,100 yuan), and Zijing Pharmaceutical (330,000 yuan), have per capita compensation exceeding 300,000 yuan, with R&D personnel typically accounting for over 30% of their workforce. Mengke Pharmaceuticals, for instance, allocated 187% of its revenue to R&D in 2025. Despite an annual loss of 242 million yuan, the company continued to enhance talent incentives, with core R&D team members often earning over 800,000 yuan annually.
In the biological products sector, innovative drug companies such as Junshi Biosciences (420,500 yuan) and Mabwell Biosciences (373,300 yuan) demonstrate significantly higher compensation levels than traditional blood product enterprises, leveraging their expertise in macromolecular drugs and antibody drug development.
The CXO sector, serving as the "water sellers" for pharmaceutical innovation, maintains leading per capita compensation due to stable order flows and talent-intensive operations. Besides Hefu China, leading companies like Tigermed Consulting (296,900 yuan) and WuXi AppTec (287,500 yuan) offer per capita compensation nearing 300,000 yuan. Researchers with doctoral degrees can earn over 450,000 yuan annually, while master's degree holders start at more than 200,000 yuan, making CXO a preferred career path for pharmaceutical graduates. These firms convert highly educated talent into core productivity through an "industrialized R&D" model, achieving per capita revenue exceeding 1.5 million yuan, which supports their industry-leading salary structures.
Medical Devices and Traditional Pharmaceuticals: Technological Barriers Define Compensation, Distribution and Traditional Medicine Lag The high-end medical device and consumables sector exhibits a clear trend where higher technology correlates with better compensation. In medical equipment, companies like Furei Corporation (578,900 yuan) and Wandong Medical (422,200 yuan) rank among the top five in per capita compensation due to their high-barrier businesses in liver disease diagnostics and medical imaging equipment. In contrast, general consumables companies typically offer per capita compensation below 200,000 yuan, resulting in a nearly threefold gap. Medical consumables firms such as Haohai Biomedical (326,400 yuan) and Sinomed Medical (311,900 yuan) provide above-average compensation owing to their high-tech products like ophthalmic consumables and cardiac stents.
In stark contrast, traditional Chinese medicine, generic drugs, and pharmaceutical distribution sectors represent compensation troughs. Among 20 traditional Chinese medicine companies, only Yunnan Baiyao (345,300 yuan) exceeds 300,000 yuan in per capita compensation. Leading firms like Darentang and Pien Tze Huang report salaries between 200,000 and 250,000 yuan, with over 70% of traditional Chinese medicine companies offering annual compensation below 200,000 yuan, some even under 100,000 yuan. Among 27 generic drug companies, over 60%, including Fuyuan Pharmaceutical and Zhejiang Medicine, have per capita compensation below 200,000 yuan, with only a few innovation-oriented firms like Kelun Pharmaceutical and Hansoh Pharma surpassing 250,000 yuan.
The pharmaceutical distribution sector has the lowest compensation levels, with all four distribution companies reporting per capita salaries under 180,000 yuan. National distributors such as China National Medicines and Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, despite revenues exceeding 100 billion yuan, focus on distribution and logistics—low-technology, labor-intensive operations—resulting in per capita compensation of only 150,000 to 180,000 yuan, less than one-third of that in innovative drug companies. Data indicates that 68 of the 130 pharmaceutical companies have per capita compensation below 200,000 yuan, 90% of which are from traditional pharmaceutical sectors.
From an industry perspective, compensation disparities reflect a fundamental restructuring of industrial value. Innovative drugs, CXO, and high-end devices, with their patent barriers and high value-added outputs, generate per capita revenue exceeding 2 million yuan, enabling them to offer high salaries. Conversely, traditional pharmaceutical companies, impacted by centralized procurement and homogeneous competition, face compressed profit margins, forcing them to reduce labor costs.
Widening Compensation Gap: Traditional Firms Risk Talent Drain and Stagnant Salaries As healthcare cost controls intensify and innovation accelerates, this compensation gap is likely to widen further. Companies with strong R&D capabilities and high technological barriers will continue to attract top talent, while traditional firms lacking core competitiveness may face dual challenges of talent outflow and salary stagnation.
The high compensation in innovative drugs, CXO, and high-end devices is driven by a combination of high barriers, high value-added outputs, and talent density. First, there is a scarcity premium for R&D talent; these companies typically have over 30% of their workforce in R&D, with core teams comprising PhDs and returnees. Imbalances in supply and demand for roles in preclinical research, CMC, and clinical operations push starting salaries for PhDs to 350,000–500,000 yuan, elevating overall per capita compensation.
Second, high gross margins and profit margins provide support. Innovative and biological drugs often achieve gross margins of 80%–90%, while CXO firms generate over 1.5 million yuan per capita in revenue, allowing them to convert high profits into talent incentives.
Third, capital and industry consensus play a role; even when incurring losses (e.g., Mengke Pharmaceuticals' 242 million yuan loss in 2025), innovative drug companies treat compensation as "R&D investment," using high salaries to secure pipeline advancement capabilities, creating a positive cycle of high investment, high talent, high barriers, and premium pricing.
In contrast, the compensation troughs in generic drugs, traditional Chinese medicine, and pharmaceutical distribution stem from low technology, low margins, and policy pressures. On one hand, centralized procurement continues to squeeze profits, with average price cuts exceeding 50% for generic drugs, proprietary Chinese medicines, and high-value consumables, halving corporate revenues and gross margins and making labor costs a primary target for reduction. On the other hand, low value-added business models—distribution and logistics for circulation, production and sales for traditional Chinese and generic drugs—rely on production, general sales, and administrative staff with low technical thresholds and high replaceability, resulting in per capita revenue less than one-third of that in innovative drug companies.