Zhitong Finance App learned that on March 20, the Hong Kong stock technology innovative pharmaceutical company Yuanda Pharmaceutical (00512) announced its 2023 results. The company recorded annual revenue of about HK$10.53 billion, up 15.8% year on year after excluding exchange rate effects; gross profit of about HK$6.52 billion, up 15.3% year on year after excluding exchange rate effects; net profit from normalization was about HK$2.04 billion, up 0.2% year on year before exchanging exchange rate effects; R&D and project investment was about HK$1.44 billion. The board of directors recommended a dividend of HK26 cents per share, with a total dividend of about HK$910 million. It has been distributed continuously for 6 years, with a cumulative dividend of approximately HK$2.8 billion.

In 2023, thanks to continued investment in innovative products and advanced technology around the world, Yuanda Pharmaceutical made significant progress in all business segments. During the year, the company achieved a total of 77 major milestones, including 42 innovative products; a total of 30 products were approved for listing, including 5 innovative products; the company added 17 core patents and 118 patent authorizations.

Through years of intensive cultivation, Yuanda Pharmaceutical currently has more than 200 medical insurance catalogue products, including 16 products sold over 100 million. The company has formed a significant competitive advantage in various business fields. Its increasing comprehensive competitiveness is also well recognized by the industry, and ranked 19th in the “2022 Top 100 Chinese Pharmaceutical Companies List” in June 2023.

The clinical progress of innovative nuclear drugs is progressing smoothly, and high-end medical devices have been launched in an echelon

The nuclear drug anti-tumor diagnosis and treatment sector is one of Yuanda Pharmaceutical's most globalized sectors. The company has achieved a comprehensive layout in various aspects such as R&D, production, sales, and regulatory qualifications in this sector, and has established a complete industrial chain. Currently, the company's nuclear medicine division stocks a total of 14 innovative global products, covering 6 types of radionuclides, covering 7 types of cancer, including liver cancer, prostate cancer, etc. The product categories cover the diagnosis and treatment of two types of nuclide drugs.

Since the company's innovative product, Yigantai Yttrium [90Y] microsphere injection, was marketed in China, nearly 60 hospitals have completed the nuclide transfer procedure. Formal surgery has been carried out in nearly 40 hospitals in 17 provinces and cities, and 7 surgery, treatment and training centers have been established. At the same time, the company has trained more than 1,000 doctors in 70 hospitals on the theory or skills of Yigantai surgery. By the end of 2023, E-Gantai had entered 36 provincial, municipal and regional welfare insurance. During the year, the company's nuclear medicine anti-tumor segment achieved revenue of about HK$220 million, and the annual revenue growth rate for core products was nearly 300%.

In addition to Yi Gantai, domestic clinical trials of 4 innovative RDC drugs, including TLx591-cdx, the company's innovative radionuclide conjugate drug (RDC) used to diagnose prostate cancer and TLx250-cdx, an innovative RDC drug used to diagnose clear cell renal cell carcinoma (cCRCC), progressed steadily in domestic clinical practice. The innovative liquid embolizer LavATM has been commercialized in the US, and konaTM and aurolase have all submitted pre-marketing approval (PMA) applications to the FDA.

Notably, after TLx591-CDx's overseas listing, sales revenue increased beyond expectations. Its revenue for the full year of 2023 exceeded 503 million Australian dollars (about 2.4 billion yuan), an increase of nearly 214% over the previous year. Given the current huge number of prostate cancer patients in China and the gap between early screening and diagnosis of prostate cancer and developed countries, it is expected that the successful launch of this product in the future will add stronger impetus to Yuanda Pharmaceutical's performance growth.

On the other hand, during the year, Yuanda Pharmaceutical's cardiovascular precision interventional diagnosis and treatment sector also achieved many milestones and achieved the phased launch of innovative products. In 2023, the company's application for domestic marketing of HeartLight X3, an innovative laser ablation platform for atrial fibrillation treatment, was accepted. At the same time, the product successfully completed the first domestic licensing procedure. It is expected that the future will bring a new international precise treatment plan for atrial fibrillation treatment in China. In addition, Novasight, a globally innovative intravascular bimodal imaging system, and two neurointerventional catheters, Spoonbill and Snake have been approved for sale in China, and the domestic marketing application for the innovative device adjustable embolization stent GPN00493 has also been accepted.

In terms of research and development, the company officially established the Kenoway Medical Technology Shanghai R&D Center during the year, focusing on research and development of mitral valve replacement products in the field of structural heart disease medical devices. The R&D center is the third international high-end medical device R&D center after the company's Wuhan Optics Valley and Changzhou Innovative Device R&D Center.

The pharmaceutical technology field is making full efforts, and various superior products consolidate the advantages of segmented fields

With the support of an innovative strategic layout, the company's respiratory and critical care, cardiovascular, and facial features sectors in the field of pharmaceutical technology have also gained new momentum.

In 2023, the company's two innovative compound formulations for the treatment of asthma, Enzhuorun and Enmingrun successfully entered the 2022 edition of the national health insurance catalogue. The innovative product Ryaltris compound nasal spray (GSP 301 NS) for treating allergic rhinitis was accepted, and STC3141, a global innovative product used to treat serious diseases such as sepsis, reached a clinical endpoint in Australia and Belgium, and phase II clinical trials for sepsis completed; the first clinical phase II clinical trial for treatment of sepsis in China was enrolled; bed Enrollment of the first patient was completed.

Sepsis treatment is expensive and consumes a lot of medical resources. According to the data, the total cost of sepsis patients in ICU in mainland China is about 31.2 billion yuan each year, and the average cost of ICU hospitalization for patients is 52,658 yuan. In the future, STC3141 and APAD will be successfully approved for listing, and will achieve significant benefits both in terms of return on revenue for their companies and social value for patients, hospitals, etc.

In the cardiovascular sector, Yuanda Pharmaceutical has carried out two major business layouts, successively acquiring the controlling shares of Tianjin Tanabe Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and 90% of Chongqing Doptai Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. While expanding its product portfolio, it quickly entered the chronic disease market, further consolidating the company's leading position in the cardiovascular market.

In sectors such as facial medicine and mRNA platforms, the company's various innovative products have also made many clinical advances. Among them, the approval of the company's mRNA therapeutic vaccine ARC01 in China marks that it has become the first mRNA tumor vaccine approved for clinical research in China for tumors related to HPV positivity.

Under the guidance of good brand advantages and a stable market position, as well as a variety of high-barrier products and exclusive varieties with leading market share, Yuanda Pharmaceutical Technology achieved revenue of about HK$6.81 billion in 2023, excluding exchange rate effects, a year-on-year increase of 17.1%.

Diversified pipelines strengthen the foundation, and innovative layout stimulates growth momentum

Yuanda Pharmaceutical's innovative layout is also reflected in the field of biotechnology. In this field, the company is positioned as a global high-quality supplier of high-quality amino acids based on the world's leading synthetic biomanfacturing innovation technology. In 2023, the amino acid sector achieved revenue of about HK$2.76 billion, an increase of 16.1% year-on-year, excluding exchange rate effects. During the year, the company's amino acid production base in Xiantao, Hubei was completed and fully entered the trial production stage. In the future, the company's production capacity will be further expanded to provide continuous momentum for the company's profit growth in this field.

The overlapping innovation results show that Yuanda Pharmaceutical's innovation strategy has already entered the release period. At present, Yuanda Pharmaceutical has deployed 5 R&D technology platforms and 8 R&D centers around the world, focusing on tumor intervention, RDC, high-end medical devices, mRNA, and glucomics technology. The company currently has 138 research projects in reserve, including 46 innovative projects.

Strong R&D strength provides the company with a stable guarantee for long-term development. Regarding future development, Yuanda Pharmaceutical said that the company will continue to adhere to the development concept of “comprehensive advantage, innovation leadership and global expansion”, give full play to its industrial advantages and R&D strength, provide more advanced and diverse treatment plans for patients around the world, and make firm steps on the way to the corporate vision of “becoming a pharmaceutical company respected by doctors and patients and returning to society”.