APIs are divided into two categories according to their sources: chemical synthetic and natural chemical.

1. Chemical Synthetic APIs

   Chemical Synthetic APIs can be divided into inorganic synthetic and organic synthetic. Inorganic synthetic APIs are inorganic compounds, such as aluminum hydroxide used to treat stomach; organic synthetic APIs mainly refer to APIs obtained by a series of organic chemical reactions of organic chemical raw materials, such as aspirin, caffeine, etc.

2. Natural Chemical APIs

   Natural Chemical APIs can be divided into biochemical and phytochemical. Biochemical APIs are basic biochemical substances separated and purified from organisms for the prevention, treatment and diagnosis of diseases, as well as such substances produced by modern biotechnology such as chemical synthesis or genetic recombination, such as amino acids, peptides, proteins, etc.; phytochemical APIs are a class of chemical substances with obvious physiological activity extracted and separated from medicinal plants. Most of them are chemically pure substances and can be processed as APIs into drug preparations for clinical application, such as alkaloids, sugars and glycosides, terpenes and proteins, etc.

APIs Industry Chain

    The upstream of the raw material pharmaceutical industry chain covers basic chemicals, plant cultivation and animal breeding; the midstream involves the processing and manufacturing of intermediates and raw materials (bulk, special, patented); and the downstream is used in the fields of medicine, health products, feed, food, cosmetics, etc.