Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings, based in South China's Guangdong province, has become one of the world's top 500 companies, and the first to enter the Fortune Global 500 with traditional Chinese medicine as its main business.

As a company with a long history in the pharmaceutical industry, GPH reported more than 150 billion yuan ($23.21 billion) in sales in 2020, according to sources with the company.

Sales increased 18.6 percent year-on-year to 41.58 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2021, compared with the same period last year.

"It is a milestone for us as we have been making great efforts to develop into a world-leading pharmaceutical company for decades," company president Li Chuyuan said.

According to Li, the company will provide more solutions to help reduce pharmaceutical costs, as more products related to pharmaceuticals and health will be prioritized in the future.

The company currently has a number of leading global innovative drug research projects ranging from anti-tumor, anti-infection, treatment of immune diseases and osteoarthritis to other areas, covering small molecule chemical medicine, traditional Chinese medicine and biological medicine.

"Development will be focused to promote integration between traditional Chinese medicine and other industries," he said.

The Guangzhou-based company signed a memorandum of strategic cooperation with the Merck Group, a leading global pharmaceutical player, in March to jointly develop cooperation in product research, business model innovation and market expansion.

Lin Xi contributed to the story