It was all the rage for a while, its TV and bus station ads encouraging consumers to “Give your gut a nice bath” and “Be careful not to get too slim.” Riding a wave of popularity from those aggressive campaigns, Besunyen Holdings Co. Ltd. (0926.HK) quickly became synonymous with “slimming tea” products among health-conscious Chinese consumers in the first part of the 21st century.

But those days quickly faded as consumers looked for the next new fad in healthy living. As that happened, Besunyen’s fortunes declined and it fell into years of losses. Now, the company is trying to undergo its own transformation, hoping to cleanse its corporate gut and come up with something new to lure back consumers to its products. It may have found the answer in dietary drugs, which are playing an increasingly important role in its business.

The company’s midyear report, published last week, shows Besunyen’s revenue grew 1.8% in the first half of 2025 to 258 million yuan ($36 million) from 254 million yuan a year earlier. Meager as that may sound, the company made stronger progress in other areas. Its gross profit margin rose from 68.2% to 68.6%, and it reduced its operating expenses by 2.8% to 165 million yuan. Such small improvements filtered down to the bottom line with a 46% rise in the company’s profit to 12.4 million yuan, up from 8.5 million yuan a year earlier.