20cm Surge! Mabwell Bioscience Announces Two BD Deals Totaling RMB 4.7 Billion—Is a Turning Point in Sight?

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Following Rongchang Bio (688331.SH; 09995.HK), another biopharmaceutical company has announced the completion of its BD (Business Development) deal.

On the evening of June 26, Mabwell (688062.SH) issued two announcements in a row, announcing collaborations with Calico and Qilu Pharmaceutical, respectively. The total transaction value of these two BD deals is approximately 4.7 billion yuan, with upfront payments exceeding 550 million yuan.

Or perhaps stimulated by the aforementioned positive news, on June 26, Mabwell surged 20% to hit the upper limit, finally closing at 28.62 yuan per share, with a total market value of 11.437 billion yuan.

As for the aforementioned transaction, the two parties did not disclose how they reached the cooperation, and Mabwell has not yet responded to Era Finance regarding its further plans for going overseas. However, Hu Huiguo, Secretary of the Board of Directors of Mabwell, previously told Era Finance that in terms of overseas business, the company has always hoped to find a partner with global resources to empower the pipeline and jointly advance overseas clinical trials, market entry, and commercialization.

Since the beginning of this year, there have been continuous significant deals in China's innovative drug market. In a research report released in June this year, Huaxi Securities stated, "The congestion level of innovative drug transactions reached its highest point in this round from June 9 to 16, accounting for nearly 4.8% of the market's trading volume, which is at the nearly 100% percentile level since 2010."

Du Chen, former executive dean of E Pharma Industry Research Institute, told Time Finance that, as far as innovative drugs themselves are concerned, it is not a period when innovative drugs are generally highly popular, but it can be considered one phase of recovery for innovative drugs. "The current 'innovative drug boom' is actually the 'Biotech boom'. Changes from the selection and R&D of innovative drugs to BD (Business Development), License-out (outward licensing), etc., have indeed reached a new level," Du Chen said.

Two BDs Announced in One Day, Totaling 4.7 Billion Yuan

The announcement shows that Calico is a research and development company co-founded by Alphabet, the parent company of Google, and Dr. Arthur Levinson, a veteran of the industry. Mabwell has reached a cooperation with them on 9MW3811, a self-developed humanized monoclonal antibody targeting human interleukin-11 (IL-11).

According to the agreement, Mabwell grants Calico an exclusive license to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the licensed products in all regions outside Greater China (Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). Calico will pay Mabwell a one-time, non-refundable upfront payment of US$25 million (approximately RMB 179 million). Additionally, Mabwell is eligible to receive up to a total of US$571 million (approximately RMB 4.093 billion) in near-term, development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties based on the net sales of the licensed products.

9MW3811 can efficiently block the activation of downstream signaling pathways of IL-11, inhibit IL-11-induced pathophysiological functions, thereby achieving therapeutic effects on fibrosis and tumors. Currently, this project has been approved for clinical trials in China, Australia, and the United States, and Phase I clinical studies in China and Australia have been completed.

Another major deal came from the cooperation with Qilu Pharmaceutical. Mabwell and its wholly-owned subsidiary Taikang Bio reached a collaboration with Qilu Pharmaceutical regarding their marketed product, Pegfilgrastim Injection (trade name: MaiLiSheng; product code: 8MW0511). According to the agreement, Mabwell grants Qilu Pharmaceutical exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, improve, utilize, and commercialize the licensed product within Greater China (including mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). In return, Mabwell will receive upfront payments and sales milestones totaling up to RMB 500 million, including a one-time, non-refundable upfront payment of RMB 380 million, as well as royalties of up to double-digit percentages of the licensed product's net sales.

The total transaction amount of these two BDs is estimated to be approximately 4.7 billion yuan, with upfront payments exceeding 550 million yuan.

For Mabwell, its BD journey may have just begun. In the "Reply Announcement to the Inquiry Letter on Information Disclosure of the 2024 Report" disclosed in May this year, Mabwell stated that it will fully utilize its abundant overseas commercialization resources and its own international registration capabilities to focus on promoting international cooperation for pipelines with high innovation levels and distinct differentiation advantages. Targeting developed countries such as Europe and the United States or leading pharmaceutical companies within China, Mabwell aims to advance extensive cooperation for its products, especially innovative varieties, through collaboration models such as out-licensing.

"At present, the company is engaged in multiple rounds of commercial negotiations with several international pharmaceutical giants regarding various products, covering different stages from data exchange to discussions on business terms. Meanwhile, the company is also actively participating in domestic and international academic conferences, strategically focusing on key and cutting-edge areas of biotechnology to further enhance the sustainability of its technical research and development capabilities, thereby promoting its product pipeline more effectively," said Mabwell.

Can BD Turn the Tide Amid Ongoing Losses?

Mabwell was founded in 2017 and listed on the STAR Market in January 2022. According to the 2024 annual report, during the reporting period, Mabwell had three commercialized products: Junmaikang (Adalimumab Injection), Mailisu (Denosumab Injection), and Maiweijian (Denosumab Injection). These three products are all biosimilars, approved in China in March 2022, March 2023, and March 2024, respectively. Additionally, there are 16 other products at preclinical, clinical, or marketing stages, including 12 innovative drugs and 4 biosimilars, focusing on cancer and age-related diseases such as immunology, ophthalmology, and orthopedics.

At the end of May this year, Mabwell's Pegfilgrastim Alpha for injection was approved by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA) for marketing in China. It is used to reduce the incidence of infection manifested as febrile neutropenia in adult patients with non-myeloid malignancies receiving myelosuppressive chemotherapy that can cause febrile neutropenia.

This drug is the product that Qilu Pharmaceutical has reached a cooperation agreement on this time, and it is also one of the products for which Mabwell previously terminated cooperation with Haibo Biotech (formerly known as: SenSen Biotech), a wholly-owned subsidiary of Yangtze River Pharmaceutical.

In February last year, Mabwell and Yangtze River Pharmaceutical terminated cooperation on two projects: 9MW1111 (recombinant humanized anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody injection) and 8MW0511. Regarding the termination of cooperation at that time, Mabwell stated in its announcement that during the cooperation period, the competitive market landscape had changed significantly, with substantial adjustments in the market prices of both anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody products and long-acting G-CSF products. Additionally, the company considered that both products are used in the oncology field and could potentially be synergistically sold or developed into combination therapies with its other products in the future.

"When the collaboration on this project was terminated last year, Hu Huiguo told Times Finance, 'In the long term, oncology drugs are a key development area for the company and a team we need to strengthen. Therefore, it is also the main reason for us to reclaim the rights. Building a commercial system and capability is one of the most urgent and important tasks for Mabwell. The sales team in the oncology field has started to take shape, and the company needs more commercially operable products. In non-core areas of Mabwell, such as ophthalmology and anti-infectives in the existing pipeline, if any products enter the commercial stage in China in the future, the company will seek commercial partners instead of building its own commercial team.'"

In terms of the capital market, following its A-share listing, Mabwell is now striving for a Hong Kong listing. In January this year, Mabwell submitted its prospectus to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, planning to list on the Hong Kong Main Board.

As of now, Mabwell has not yet achieved profitability. Financial report data shows that in 2024, the company's revenue was 200 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 56.28%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was a loss of 1.044 billion yuan, compared to 1.053 billion yuan in 2023. In the first quarter of 2025, the company's revenue was 44.7885 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 33.70%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was a loss of 292 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 41.85%.

In addition, in May this year, Mabwell announced that Liu Datao, the company's chairman and general manager, was investigated by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for suspected short-term trading.

This BD deal seems to have given Mabwell a boost in the capital market, but facing multiple challenges and opportunities, it remains uncertain whether BD can sustain its progress in the long term.

However, regarding BD plans, the aforementioned "Reply Announcement to the Information Disclosure Supervision Inquiry Letter on the 2024 Report" shows that as the company's core pipeline, the excellent clinical data performance of the four major indications for the Nectin-4-targeted ADC (9MW2821) has ushered in a golden period for business development of this pipeline. In addition, the business development team is also actively negotiating multiple distinctive innovative pipelines.

CIC Insights Director Li Kang Lu told the Times Finance that, from the industry perspective, China's innovative drug sector has now entered a critical stage of transitioning from "quantitative change" to "qualitative change." After years of nurturing innovation, products from innovative drug companies are gradually entering the harvest phase. Dozens of innovative drug companies have obtained approvals for new products in 2020 and 2021, which are expected to provide new momentum for performance growth. From the market perspective, as regulatory systems align internationally, the rapid development of product License-out deals shows that China’s innovative drugs have begun to gain initial international recognition.

"But the pharmaceutical industry is a long-term and highly promising field. The key is to address unmet clinical needs, and companies that focus on researching the pain points and challenges in indications will still be recognized," said Lu Likang.

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