A major tax-related enforcement case in the pharmaceutical industry has been disclosed by the National Healthcare Security Administration and tax authorities. Shenyang Ojina Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., a long-established drugmaker with over two decades in the market, has been found to have colluded with 40 shell companies with no real operational capacity over an eight-year period. They fabricated consulting service transactions and issued false value-added tax invoices to fraudulently claim input tax credits and inflate operating costs and expenses, with the total amount involved reaching 189 million yuan. For this major case of fraudulent invoicing in the pharmaceutical sector in Northeast China this year, the tax authorities have imposed a hefty administrative penalty of 35.16 million yuan on the company. However, this punishment is not the end. Simultaneously, the Liaoning provincial healthcare security department has rated the company as a "particularly serious" dishonest entity. The company's drugs face disqualification from the provincial online procurement platform, and its core product, aspirin enteric-coated tablets, will be removed from the national online procurement system. This high-pressure, integrated regulatory approach linking taxation and healthcare security is sweeping across the entire pharmaceutical industry.
The 189 Million Yuan Fraudulent Invoicing Case Confirmed
On July 2nd, the National Healthcare Security Administration disclosed that Shenyang Ojina Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. was subjected to administrative punishment by the First Inspection Bureau of the Shenyang Municipal Tax Service, State Taxation Administration, for obtaining fraudulent VAT invoices. This case has become the most prominent example of fraudulent invoicing exposed in the Northeast pharmaceutical field this year, featuring the largest amount involved and the most comprehensive punitive dimensions.
According to the notice, from January 2017 to December 2024, Shenyang Ojina Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. obtained 2,083 sets of fraudulent VAT invoices from 40 enterprises, including Shenyang XX Medical Technology Co., Ltd. and Shenyang XX Management Consulting Co., Ltd., without any real transactions. These invoices were used to fraudulently claim input tax credits and inflate operating costs and expenses, with a total amount of 189 million yuan. The First Inspection Bureau of the Shenyang Municipal Tax Service imposed an administrative fine of 35.16 million yuan in accordance with relevant regulations.
An investigation revealed that the 40 companies that issued the fraudulent invoices to Shenyang Ojina Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. mostly had names containing phrases like "XX Medical Technology Co., Ltd.", "XX Management Consulting Co., Ltd.", or "XX Graphic Advertising Co., Ltd.". The vast majority of these companies had only 0 to 3 employees enrolled in social security, indicating they lacked the actual capacity to provide the promotion or consulting services they claimed. They issued false invoices under names such as "consulting service fees".
For pharmaceutical companies, obtaining fraudulent invoices is not only a tax violation but also artificially inflates costs and expenses. This ultimately gets reflected in the drug prices borne by patients and creates an unfair competitive advantage over other manufacturers of similar products.
Following an evaluation based on regulations concerning drug pricing and procurement credit assessment, the Liaoning Provincial Healthcare Security Administration and the Provincial Public Resource Trading Center rated Shenyang Ojina Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. as a "particularly serious" dishonest entity after the company refused to implement a corrective plan. This dishonesty rating will be effective from July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2029. Accordingly, all its products will be disqualified from the online procurement platform in Liaoning province, and its aspirin enteric-coated tablets will be removed from online procurement platforms in all other provinces across the country.
Public information shows that Shenyang Ojina Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. is a long-established chemical pharmaceutical enterprise in Northeast China, founded in 1991. Its main business is the production and sales of cardiovascular/cerebrovascular drugs and children's antipyretic/analgesic medications. Its core products include aspirin enteric-coated tablets and other generic drugs. Its products have long been supplied to medical institutions and chain pharmacies nationwide, giving it stable channel resources and market share in the grassroots pharmaceutical market. The exposure of this case has laid bare the extensive operational practices and compliance deficiencies of this veteran company.
The National Healthcare Security Administration stated that the next step is to guide local authorities in strengthening the evaluation and handling of tax-related illegal cases. This aims to effectively maintain a fair and competitive order in the centralized pharmaceutical procurement market, allowing law-abiding enterprises to experience a fair and orderly market environment and bolstering their confidence in compliant operations. Simultaneously, it sends a firm policy signal to companies still following improper sales practices.
Industry Compliance Oversight Undergoes Comprehensive Upgrade
The Ojina case, involving hundreds of millions in fraudulent invoices, a tens-of-millions fine, and multi-dimensional market access restrictions, is not an isolated incident. It is a concentrated reflection of the ongoing tightening of compliance supervision in the pharmaceutical industry in 2026. This indicates that regulation has shifted from a "flexible" to a "rigid" era.
Enforcement efforts continue to intensify. In the first half of 2026 alone, over 20 listed pharmaceutical companies have announced substantial tax back-payments, with the total exceeding 1.6 billion yuan. Investigation methods have become fully digitized, with technologies like the Golden Tax Phase IV system leaving no hiding place for fraudulent invoicing. Punishments are no longer limited to the economic level but are directly linked to market access.
In the first half of 2026, tax authorities in multiple regions have cracked major fraudulent invoicing cases in the pharmaceutical sector. Supervision now exhibits new characteristics: "full-chain打击, upstream/downstream accountability, and credit-linked punishment". For instance, a case cracked by Sichuan tax authorities involved a syndicate controlling five pharmaceutical-related companies that issued tens of thousands of fraudulent invoices over several years, cashing out through shell companies and inflating promotion expenses. The total amount of taxes and fines recovered reached 192 million yuan. The actual controllers and financial officers were transferred to judicial authorities for criminal liability, while dozens of downstream partner pharmaceutical companies were subjected to retrospective checks, input tax adjustments, back taxes, and fines.
Not only small and medium-sized enterprises but also listed pharmaceutical companies are facing a compliance reckoning. In 2026, several listed firms, including Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals and Yuan Dong Bio, have密集 disclosed tax rectifications. On June 17, 2026, the STAR Market-listed Yuan Dong Bio issued a special tax-related announcement, disclosing that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Tibet Runhe Pharmaceutical, had continuously obtained fraudulent and cancelled invoices from upstream service providers from 2017 to 2021. Following verification by tax authorities, the subsidiary faces a proposed recovery of 8.5791 million yuan in corporate income tax and an administrative fine of 4.2896 million yuan, totaling over 12.86 million yuan in taxes and fines. This is a typical case of subsidiary-level fraudulent invoicking violations among listed pharmaceutical companies this year. Subsequently, on June 22, 2026, Olymvax Biopharmaceuticals announced a tax back-payment of 87.408 million yuan, including taxes and late fees. The company had prepaid 4.2001 million yuan in 2025, with the current payment due being 83.2079 million yuan, accounting for 11.82% of its audited operating revenue from the last fiscal year.
Behind the持续 tightening of industry regulation is the不断完善 of the top-level policy framework. The top-level design has formed a triple regulatory闭环 of "administrative-credit-criminal". On the administrative side, there is the first national-level "Compliance Guidelines for Pharmaceutical Enterprises on Preventing Commercial Bribery Risks" issued in 2025. On the credit side, there is the healthcare procurement credit evaluation system, where dishonesty directly affects market access. On the criminal side, the 2026 judicial interpretation on graft and bribery (II) by the Supreme People's Court and Supreme People's Procuratorate advocates "zero tolerance" for bribery and corruption in the medical field.
Compared to previous years, a current change in regulation is that accountability no longer targets only the shell companies issuing invoices. The pharmaceutical companies receiving the invoices and actually benefiting have become the core subjects of accountability. Companies cannot use "lack of knowledge" as an excuse. In the Ojina case, the company was ultimately rated as "particularly serious" dishonest for "refusing to correct", indicating that attitude itself has become a key factor in加重 penalties.
From the confirmation of hundred-million-yuan fraudulent invoicing and tens-of-millions in tax fines, to being placed on the特别严重失信 list for refusal to rectify and facing multi-dimensional national market access restrictions, the Ojina case fully illustrates the current stringent regulatory logic of "tax-related illegality + credit punishment" in the pharmaceutical industry. In the future, the core of competition in the pharmaceutical industry will shift from channel marketing to product strength and compliance capability. A sound compliance system is no longer just a cost but a survival baseline determining whether a company can持续 participate in centralized procurement and gain market access. Competition will彻底告别 the involution of channel marketing, turning towards the core比拼 of compliant operations, technological innovation, and product quality. Comprehensive compliance will become the essential path for the sustainable development of all pharmaceutical enterprises.
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