A pair of Hong Kong-listed mainland Chinese biotechnology firms are poised to turn a profit this year as their revenue from novel drugs finally outstrips costs related to research and development and marketing, according to analysts.
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“Chinese biotechs have matured significantly and are creating value for Chinese patients and government payers,” said Tony Ren, head of Asia healthcare research at Macquarie Capital, in a report on July 16. “[Some will] likely turn profitable soon and no longer rely on investors for funding.”
Suzhou-based Innovent Biologics, the first Chinese company to be approved to sell a drug for weight loss and diabetes, is expected to swing to a first-half net profit of 260 million yuan (US$36.4 million) from a year-earlier loss of 392.6 million yuan, according to an estimate from Zhang Jialin, Nomura’s head of China healthcare research.
According to a consensus estimate from Bloomberg, the company was expected to post a net profit of 472 million yuan for 2025, its first full-year profit since going public. Innovent, founded in 2011, was one of the first batch of firms to go public in 2018 under a Hong Kong listing regime that allowed drug and medical device developers with no profit or revenue to sell shares.
In the second half, Zhang estimated that Innovent would book 1 billion yuan in sales from mazdutide, a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) weight loss drug launched in July.
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That would amount to a sixth of the company’s total expected revenue for this year, making it a key contributor to the improved bottom line. Novo Nordisk’s semaglutide, the first GLP-1 drug launched in China last year for weight loss, generated revenue of 770 million yuan in the first quarter.