Vaccine Giant with $13 Billion Market Cap Loss Shuffles Nine Senior Directors Amid Strategic Restructuring

Writing | Runyu

On July 23, Walvax announced a comprehensive optimization of its organizational structure, with collective adjustments to the responsibilities of nine directors, involving finance and BD., production, engineering technology, quality, investment, technology, research and development, and operations. Specifically, they are:

• Zhou Hua Resigns as CFO, to Continue Overseeing Corporate Sustainability and Regulatory Compliance: Wu Changxiong Appointed New CFO. Wu Changxiong joined Walvax in 2014, serving successively as Budget Manager, Manager of Financial Management Department, and Director of the Financial Management Center, playing a key role in enhancing the company's financial organizational management and report preparation.

• Wang Zilong Resigns as BD Director, Continues to Undertake International Business-Related Work for the Company.

• Shi Jing has resigned from the position of Production Director and will mainly undertake work related to the company's bacterial vaccine BU.

• Duan Qingtang has resigned from the position of Engineering Technology Director and will mainly undertake work related to the company's new Business Unit (BU).

• Fang Guoliang Resigns as Quality Director, Will Focus on New Business BU Related Work

• Zhao Jinlong has resigned from his position as Investment Director and will primarily take on responsibilities related to the company's Supply Chain Center.

• Yuan Lin Resigns as Technical Director, Will Mainly Take Charge of Company Registration and Medical Center Related Work.

• Tong Xin Resigns as R&D Director, to Focus on Company’s R&D and Transformation Center Related Work.

• Wu Yunyan has resigned from the position of Operations Director and will primarily take on responsibilities related to the company's Strategic Operations Department.

This密集 personnel adjustment is the first major move in terms of staffing after Walvax announced on June 25 the significant decision to restructure into a more streamlined organizational framework. The new structure primarily transitions into a Business Unit (BU) model, comprising six BUs: mRNA vaccines, bacterial vaccines, recombinant proteins, domestic marketing, international marketing, and new business. It can be observed that in this round of personnel changes, three directors will move to new business BUs to take on relevant responsibilities.

Among the six major BUs, two points are the most noteworthy.

mRNA vaccines are one of the six major BUs.In June, Walvax announced the termination of the technical development cooperation for the COVID-19 mRNA vaccine and the shingles mRNA vaccine with Abogen Biosciences. However, Walvax emphasized that it would continue to advance the research, development, and industrialization of other vaccine products on the mRNA technology platform.

Domestic marketing and international marketing are set as two major BUs, showing Walvax's increasing focus on its international layout moving forward.

In addition to the six major BUs, the adjusted organizational structure also includes seven functional departments and four capability platforms, which are R&D and Transformation, Registration and Medical Affairs, Quality Management, and Supply Chain.

Half a month ago, Walvax issued an announcement regarding the resignation of some directors and senior management personnel of the company. Jiang Runsheng, director and president, and Zhang Jiankang, employee director and vice president, respectively submitted written resignation reports. After resigning, Jiang Runsheng will continue to serve as a director of the company, while Zhang Jiankang will not continue to hold other management positions in the company.

On the same day, Walvax announced that Yao Wei had been appointed as the new president of the company. It is reported that Yao Wei was formerly the marketing director of Walvax, with nearly thirty years of experience in the vaccine industry. Since 2016, he has served as the marketing director of Walvax, fully responsible for managing the company's marketing operations.

Frequent changes in the middle and upper levels, accompanied by a complete "overhaul" of the organizational structure.

Notably, from 2024 to date, Walvax has released two announcements regarding organizational restructuring. The previous one was in March, which involved the establishment of a new Board Sustainability Committee, along with the creation of an ESG Office and a Compliance Office under the Sustainability Committee.

In addition, since the beginning of this year, apart from terminating the relevant cooperation with Abogen, Walvax has also announced the termination of clinical trials for the recombinant novel coronavirus vaccine (chimpanzee adenovirus vector), as well as the novel coronavirus vaccine (CHO cell) and the recombinant novel coronavirus variant vaccine (CHO cell).

In Q1 this year, Walvax's net profit was 14.13 million yuan, with a year-on-year decrease of over 90%; its revenue for the same period was approximately 600 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 28%.

In 2023, Walvax's revenue was 4.114 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.12%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 419 million yuan, with a year-on-year decrease of 42.44%; the non-recurring net profit was 574 million yuan, a year-on-year decline of 33.24%. During this period, two key products faced commercialization challenges. The sales volume of the 13-valent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine declined compared to the same period last year due to factors such as a decrease in the number of newborns in China and increased market competition. On the other hand, the sales growth of the bivalent HPV vaccine did not meet expectations, leading to an impairment provision of 251 million yuan for related assets involving the bivalent HPV vaccine and other vaccines, including inventory and receivables, accounting for over 40% of the company’s total annual profit.

Once a high-flying stock with a market value of 150 billion yuan, Walvax now has a market value of only 17.6 billion yuan. Since the beginning of this year, the share price of Walvax has fallen by more than 53%.

In the eyes of outsiders, this enterprise, which exclusively owns in China two of the world's best-selling vaccine varieties, has lost momentum in the rapidly changing market and industry ecosystem in recent years. Its development pace seems to be "delayed, slowed, and disordered." However, a series of "clearance" actions and reforms since 2024 have revealed Walvax's determination to regroup and start anew.

However, what about the results after opening up a new situation? This still needs to be answered by performance.