BEIJING - Business revenue for China's largest producer of medical and biotech products, the China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation (Sinopharm), exceeded 110 billion yuan ($17.4 billion) in 2011, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce (MOC).

The MOC said Thursday that the scale of the company's revenue also marked the first time for a Chinese pharmaceutical company to top 100 billion yuan in annual revenue.

Sinopharm spokeswoman Shi Shengyi said the company saw an average 33-percent growth in annual business revenue and a 44-percent annual increase in profits from 2003 to 2011.

Shi said the company aims to become the first Chinese pharmaceutical company to be listed among the world's top 500 companies before 2015.

The Chinese government has been working to concentrate and expand the pharmaceutical sector by encouraging industrial mergers and acquisitions.

According to an outline for the development of the pharmaceutical distribution industry during the 12th Five-Year Plan period (2011-2015), China aims to create one to three national pharmaceutical groups with annual sales above 100 billion yuan each, as well as 20 regional pharmaceutical distribution enterprises with annual sales exceeding 10 billion yuan each by 2015.

The market share for the country's top 100 pharmaceutical firms has risen from 70 to 78 percent in the wake of increased restructuring and mergers, MOC data showed.