Huabei Pharmaceutical Factory, the predecessor of Huabei Pharmaceutical Group Corporation, was the key construction project during the First Five-Year Plan period in China. In the First Five-Year Plan, 694 large and medium-sized construction projects were arranged nationwide, and the pharmaceutical industry accounted for four of them: antibiotic factory, starch factory, glass factory and sulfanilamide factory. Among the four projects, North China Pharmaceutical Factory accounts for the third, namely, the antibiotic factory and starch factory imported from the Soviet Union and the medical glass factory imported from the German Democratic Republic. In June, 1953, North China Pharmaceutical Factory began preparations. Three projects broke ground in 1955-1956, and were all completed and put into operation in 1958. North China Pharmaceutical Factory has a total investment of 75.88 million yuan, with a total area of 247, square meters and a total construction area of 16, square meters. The designed annual output is 32.5 tons of penicillin, 53 tons of streptomycin, 14,85 tons of dried starch, 1,712 tons of edible glucose and 29 million medical glass vials. The completion and commissioning of Huabei Pharmaceutical Factory ended the history that penicillin and streptomycin in China were dependent on imports, and became an important base for antibiotic production and talent export in New China.

The development of Chinese medicine can be roughly divided into three stages:

1. The first stage was from 1958 to 1978, when Huabei Pharmaceutical Factory relied on the development of connotation, developed and innovated, digested and introduced technology, and grasped the reform and optimization of strain selection, fermentation and refining process conditions, so that the production level of antibiotics entered the international advanced ranks at that time. The total number of products has increased from 5 when the factory was established to 75, and the total annual output of antibiotics has increased by nearly 2 times, which initially laid the advantages of scale and cost. Relying on its own strength, North China Pharmaceutical Factory established oxytetracycline and propidium solvent workshops in 1958 and 1959, and built a workshop for extracting vitamin B12 from streptomycin waste liquid. In 1969, tetracycline workshop was built in oxytetracycline plant. In May, 197, the large bottle workshop of the glass factory successfully trial-produced kinescope. In February, 1975, the kinescope branch of Huabei Pharmaceutical Factory was established. In 1981, it was placed under the provincial electronic bureau and became Shijiazhuang kinescope factory (later Shijiazhuang Gem Electronics Group Company). In 1973, construction of an anticancer drug comprehensive workshop was started, and after completion, lincomycin production was changed in 1979. In 197, the central laboratory of North China Pharmaceutical Factory was reorganized into an antibiotic research institute. The new antibiotics developed and put into production by the Institute of Antibiotics over the years include: bacitracin, demethylvancomycin, neomycin, trichomycin, kasugamycin, Zhengguang mycin, gibberellin, Gengsheng mycin, Zhengding mycin, Lincomycin, Lushan mycin, Pingyangmycin, clindamycin hydrochloride and cephalosporin C, etc.

2. The second stage of the development of Chinese medicine was from 1979 to 199. At this stage, the focus was on the transformation of enterprises, the implementation of management contract, the implementation of modern management, the horizontal joint and technology transfer, and the gradual strengthening of the introduction of advanced technology and equipment. The variety of products has increased to 98, and the total output of antibiotics has increased by 54% compared with 1978. In 1981, North China Pharmaceutical Factory set up Total Quality Management Office (changed to Enterprise Management Office in 1983), introduced and popularized Total Quality Management, and quality of enterprise was continuously improved. In 1986, it won the national quality management award, and was promoted to the national second-class enterprise in 1987 and the national first-class enterprise in 1989. Among the 26 main products of Huabei brand, 2 were awarded the Ministry of Chemical Industry, 8 were awarded the Bureau of State Administration of Medicine, and 23 were awarded the title of provincial high-quality products (including 7 won the Bureau's excellent products). The five main products have successively won three silver medals in the national quality prize. Since 1981, Huayao has gradually developed cross-regional and cross-industry horizontal economic cooperation. By the end of 199, there were 25 close joint ventures. The accumulated investment in 25 close joint ventures reached 53.6 million yuan. In December 1982, the second penicillin production line was built in North China Pharmaceutical Factory, and the production capacity of penicillin doubled.

3. Since 1991, Chinese medicine has entered the third development stage. During this period, Huayao actively adapted to the new situation of market economy, deepened enterprise reform, changed operating mechanism, intensified technical transformation and infrastructure construction, expanded the scale of enterprises through external introduction and internal connection, and made great progress in production, operation and various undertakings. By 1997, the total industrial output value, sales revenue and realized profits and taxes of Chinese medicine increased by 326%, 422% and 161% respectively compared with 1991, and the cumulative number of products increased to more than 3. On March 1th, 1991, Huabei Pharmaceutical Group was established, and was later listed as one of the first 55 pilot groups in the State Council, which obtained the right to import and export foreign trade and the right to examine and approve foreign affairs, and successively established a finance company and a new drug research and development center. In October, 1992, North China Pharmaceutical Factory reformed its production and operation, and established North China Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. after targeted recruitment. In 1993, Huabei Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. made a public offering, and in 1994, Huayao Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange, becoming one of the first listed companies in Hebei Province. In 1995 and 1997, Huayao Co., Ltd. increased its capital and issued shares twice. Huayao Co., Ltd. raised social funds of 7 million yuan through directional raising, social raising and two capital increase and allotment. All these funds were used for the technical transformation, infrastructure and new product development projects of Huayao during the Eighth Five-Year Plan and the Ninth Five-Year Plan, which kept these projects at a high speed, high quality and high level. Since 1992, Huayao began to use foreign capital. In six years, sixteen Sino-foreign joint ventures and cooperative companies were established, and a compensation trade project was completed, with a total utilization of foreign capital of 7 million US dollars. According to the needs of enterprise development strategy, Huayao implemented asset reorganization, successively acquired and merged 12 enterprises, and leased two enterprises, which expanded the scale and strengthened its strength. In January 1996, Huabei Pharmaceutical Factory was reorganized into a wholly state-owned company-Huabei Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd.