So far, penem is the most widely used antibiotics with strong antibacterial activity, so it plays an important role in the last line of defense against clinical severe infection. In recent years, due to the severe problem of drug-resistant bacteria, the use of these drugs has increased rapidly in the world and in China. Six varieties of imipenem cilastatin, panipenem betamillon, meropenem, biapenem (biapenem side chain), ertapenem and donipenem have been listed in the world. However, penem is a second-line drug in clinical practice. The government's guiding principle of rational use of antibiotics and the high price also greatly limit the expansion of the use of penem. All these factors determine that this kind of drug is still a kind of "noble" variety with high added value and small scale in the short term.

In 2008, the sales scale of penem terminal in China market was 1.89 billion yuan (equivalent to 278 million US dollars), accounting for 9% of the global total sales of nearly 3 billion US dollars; the sales volume reached about 12.43 million pieces; the consumption of raw materials was 5-6 tons / year, of which domestic raw materials were 1.9 tons (including 1.8 tons of meropenem and 0.14 tons of imipenem), accounting for 36%.

In the raw material export market, in 2008, meropenem, imipenem and intermediate 4-AA were the three major products of China's penem. The export volume of raw materials was 6 tons, 1.3 tons and 40 tons respectively, accounting for more than 60% of the demand for raw materials in the global generic drug market.

Since 2009, the international market demand continues to grow, and the technical cost of China's penam raw materials and intermediates gradually has advantages, especially meropenem has a large share in the international market and has a certain price discourse power. In 2009, meropenem and 4-AA are expected to export 8 tons and 50 tons respectively, with an increase rate of about 30%. Penem drugs will continue to grow rapidly and steadily in accordance with their own "rhythm".