Even with 12 billion yuan in hand, San Sheng Pharmaceutical is still a bit worried about the future.

Ask AI · Holding 12 billion yuan in cash, where will San Sheng Pharmaceutical focus next?

On March 30, San Sheng Pharmaceutical released its 2025 financial report: Achieving an annual operating revenue of 17.69 billion yuan for the first time surpassing 10 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 94.3%; net profit attributable to the parent was 8.48 billion yuan, up 305.8%.

This report card is very impressive. Nationwide, only a few pharmaceutical companies can achieve over 10 billion yuan in revenue. But in fact, **nearly 10 billion yuan of San Sheng Pharmaceutical’s income comes from last year’s major BD: **PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody SSGJ-707 rights outside mainland China were licensed to Pfizer, receiving an upfront payment of 1.25 billion USD, of which San Sheng Pharmaceutical recognized licensing income of 8.27B yuan.

With nearly 10 billion yuan of BD income on the books, San Sheng Pharmaceutical cannot simply relax and take it easy. The company’s real self-owned strength: the sales of core flagship product “Tebio” are beginning to decline, and the trend is unlikely to reverse.

BD income is one-time, product sales are the foundation for the company’s stable operation. San Sheng Pharmaceutical’s “mature product” sales are in trouble, making it hard to feel at ease.

Biopharmaceutical sales under pressure

San Sheng Pharmaceutical is an established Chinese pharmaceutical company, focusing on sales and R&D in hematology, nephrology, and other fields. Its core product “Tebio” has long contributed half of the company’s total revenue. Additionally, its listed subsidiary San Sheng Guojian and the soon-to-be-listed Mandi International are also distinctive companies. San Sheng Guojian’s immunology products hold a certain market position domestically, while Mandi is a manufacturer of the minoxidil series for hair loss.

In recent years, San Sheng Pharmaceutical’s revenue has steadily increased, with 2023 revenue at 4.2B yuan and expanding to 4.2B yuan in 2024. Unfortunately, this momentum was not maintained last year. Excluding licensing fees, the company’s 2025 revenue was 5.06B yuan, a nearly 10% decrease from the previous year, actually selling 842 million yuan less.

San Sheng Pharmaceutical explicitly stated that the decline in biopharmaceutical revenue is mainly due to falling prices in centralized procurement and the impact of medical insurance policies.

According to Jian Shi Ju, this likely refers to San Sheng Guojian’s two core products. In 2025, San Sheng Guojian achieved an operating income of 12.18B yuan, mostly from BD revenue sharing, with a smaller portion from product sales of 910 million yuan. The core product “Yisai Pu” was affected by regional procurement expansion, leading to a decrease in average price; “Saiputing” faces even fiercer market competition.

San Sheng Guojian’s main product “Yisai Pu,” launched in 2005, is mainly used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, psoriasis, and ankylosing spondylitis, earlier than similar original drugs. Before 2019, Yisai Pu held over 40% market share, with peak sales of 1.16 billion yuan. But after the patent expiration of adalimumab, the original drug Humira was price-reduced and included in medical insurance; biosimilars from Baiotaisheng, Haisen Pharmaceutical, and Cinda Biotech were also approved, forcing Yisai Pu to consider “price for volume.”

In October 2020, Yisai Pu’s price was cut by 50%; then in May 2022, during Guangdong provincial alliance procurement, it was further reduced by about 60%. Data from Guojin Securities shows that in the first three quarters of 2024, Yisai Pu’s sales had fallen to 480 million yuan. The company clearly stated that by 2025, Yisai Pu will be included in regional procurement in over 20 provinces, with significant price reductions. San Sheng Guojian did not disclose specific sales figures in the 2025 annual report.

Saiputing is a HER2 monoclonal antibody from San Sheng Guojian. While the market for trastuzumab biosimilars is growing, it hopes to differentiate in indications. However, in recent years, breast cancer treatments have become crowded, with biosimilars of trastuzumab flooding the market, and the HER2 ADC star product DS-8201 already launched in China. Companies like Rongchang Biotech and Hengrui Medicine are also chasing in the ADC space. San Sheng Guojian’s Saiputing has no advantage, with actual annual revenue around 300 million yuan, and it is increasingly squeezed by competitors.

After large-scale BD, San Sheng Pharmaceutical needs to find new “support points”

In 2023 and 2024, Tebio earned 4.205 billion yuan and 5.062 billion yuan respectively, accounting for half of San Sheng Pharmaceutical’s total revenue. But in 2025, surprisingly, the sales performance was not disclosed. Industry insiders speculate: Tebio may also be facing a competitive crisis.

Tebio is an exclusive “recombinant human thrombopoietin” (rhTPO), approved only for San Sheng Pharmaceutical in China. But this drug is very similar to other thrombopoietin (TPO) drugs.

The “Expert Consensus on Clinical Application Management of Platelet-Boosting Drugs (2023 Edition)” details differences among several TPO drugs and Tebio: China only approved “Tebio” for tumor chemotherapy-related thrombocytopenia, and due to lack of evidence, no other countries have approved TPO treatments for this condition. For other indications, TPO and rhTPO are nearly interchangeable.

In other words, Tebio has an exclusive advantage, but it’s not without pressure. Because avatrombopag and eltrombopag are already included in the 11th batch of national procurement; Ropivistatin has many generics on the market, all of which put pressure on Tebio’s sales. Tebio’s market share has already declined. According to IQVIA, in 2024, Tebio’s share in China’s thrombocytopenia treatment market was 66.6%, dropping to 60.4% in 2025.

Additionally, San Sheng Pharmaceutical’s erythropoietin products like “Yibi’ao” have also entered a stage of price competition. Currently, 16 companies hold approval for erythropoietin products, including Kexing Pharmaceutical, Weiming Biotech, and Ha药. In December last year, during Shandong’s provincial procurement, San Sheng Pharmaceutical’s 3000 IU*1 vial/box short-acting erythropoietin was bid at 19.91 yuan per unit, to be implemented this year.

Objectively, San Sheng Pharmaceutical is not on the brink of collapse. Its core business remains solid. According to financial reports, the company’s erythropoietin products held a 30.32% market share in China’s hospital sector in 2025, the highest; Tebio is far ahead. Additionally, CDMO business revenue in 2025 reached 264 million yuan, up 46.3% year-on-year; Mandi International’s revenue was 743 million yuan, with a net profit of 174 million yuan. These are strong supports for the company’s performance.

San Sheng Pharmaceutical also worries that its two oldest products, over 20 years on the market, could be overtaken at any time, so it has invested heavily in R&D. From February to March this year, new products received approvals, such as Anmuci Ta monoclonal antibody for moderate to severe plaque psoriasis, Eltrombopag Ethanolamine Tablets for immune thrombocytopenia (ITP), and severe aplastic anemia. Notably, the company also entered the long-acting erythropoietin competition, with March 2023 seeing approval for Rousai Erythropoietin Alpha Injection, the first domestically produced long-acting recombinant EPO biweekly formulation.

The 12.177 billion yuan in cash on hand is San Sheng Pharmaceutical’s greatest advantage, enough to support the company until the old products are replaced by new ones.

Written by: Miao Miao

Edited by: Jiang Yun Jia Ting

Operations: Li Muzi

Illustration: Visual China

Statement: Original content by Jian Shi Ju, please do not reprint without permission.