7. Tong Ren Tang
Overall position: 33
Category: Healthcare
Brand value: US$1.61
Founded in 1669 during the Qing dynasty to supply medicines to imperial families, Tong Ren Tang has more than 1,500 pharmacies in China and more than 70 overseas, including in the UK, the US, Australia and Singapore.
However, it intends to double the number of its overseas stores by 2015, including ambitious plans for Russia, the US and the Middle East.
Tong Ren Tang’s sales were boosted by an outbreak of bird flu in Shanghai in early 2013 that led to a consumer rush for the popular herbal extract lan gen; evidencing the continuing popularity of traditional medicines in Asia.
However, the company has recently had to counter allegations of impurities in its products, and in May, a batch of dietary supplements was recalled by health officials in Hong Kong.