Amoytop Biotech Soars 328.4% on STAR Market Debut

VCBeat learned that on January 17, 2020, Amoytop Biotech listed on the STAR Market. The issue price was RMB 8.24 per share, with an opening price reaching RMB 30.53, representing a grey market gain of 270.51%. The stock price then rose steadily, closing at RMB 35.30, marking a substantial increase of 328.40%.

Amoytop Biotech's Stock Price Trend Chart Today (Image from Tonghuashun)

Amoytop Biotech is an innovative biopharmaceutical company primarily engaged in the research and development, manufacturing, and sales of recombinant proteins and their long-acting modified drugs. Since its inception, the company has consistently focused on major diseases and immunotherapy, proactively establishing and building an innovative platform that covers expression, long-acting modification, and industrialization of various protein drugs. It possesses systematic innovation capabilities in innovative biopharmaceuticals, spanning from basic research, pilot-scale studies, and clinical trials to industrialization. Currently, the company operates a National Enterprise Postdoctoral Research Station and a National-Local Joint Engineering Research Center, and is recognized as a National Innovative Enterprise and a National Intellectual Property Advantage Enterprise.

The Company focuses its R&D efforts on immune-related cytokine therapeutics, committed to providing superior solutions for major diseases such as viral hepatitis and malignant tumors, as well as in the field of immunotherapy. In the near term, the Company will continue to concentrate on the treatment of chronic hepatitis B, striving to achieve breakthroughs toward clinical cure.

After years of continuous innovation and development, the company has built an innovative R&D team focused on therapeutic recombinant proteins and their long-acting modified innovative drugs, and has been selected as one of the “Innovation Teams in Key Fields” by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China. Since the 11th Five-Year Plan period, the team has undertaken nine national major science and technology special projects for “Major New Drug Creation.” Five polyethylene glycol (PEG)-modified long-acting protein drugs have been approved for clinical trials, with one drug already approved for marketing. The company has become a leading enterprise in the field of PEG-modified long-acting protein drugs in China.

Key Financial Data of Amoytop Biotech, Chart by VCBeat

According to the financial data for 2016–2018 disclosed in its prospectus, Amoytop Biotech has maintained stable profitability. Its revenue surged by 38.7% in 2018. In terms of R&D investment, the proportion of R&D spending to total revenue steadily increased from 3.19% in 2016 to 9.06% in 2018, gradually approaching the R&D intensity levels of foreign pharmaceutical companies.

On the other hand, Amoytop Biotech’s sales expenses have remained above 50% for several years, a point frequently criticized in many reports. In reality, however, high sales investment is an unavoidable issue in China’s current pharmaceutical industry. At the very least, Amoytop Biotech has begun to increase its R&D spending and achieved new results in 2016.

Primary Uses of Funds Raised from Amoytop Biotech's IPO

Of the funds raised by Amoytop Biotech in its initial public offering, 47.70% will be allocated to infrastructure development, with the remainder dedicated entirely to the research and development of new products.

Specific Sales Performance of Amoytop Biotech Products

Amoytop Biotech currently has four marketed products, among which Pegbin (Pegylated Interferon Alfa-2b) was approved for launch in 2016 and is the newest of the four. After being included in the National Reimbursement Drug List at the end of 2017, Pegbin saw a significant surge in sales in 2018 and has since become Amoytop Biotech’s flagship product, accounting for 42% of total sales revenue.

The other three products have been on the market for over 15 years, yet their sales revenue continues to show steady growth.

Pegbin (generic name: Pegylated Interferonα-2bInjection) is the world's first40kD Polyethylene glycolPegylated Interferonα-2bInjection, a therapeutic biological product1Novel drug class.Based on the dual action of inhibiting viral replication and enhancing immunity, Pegbin is mainly used clinically for viralTreatment of hepatitis; it is a first-line agent for antiviral therapy in chronic hepatitis B, this pegylated interferonα-2b VarietyFor2017National Reimbursement Drug List (Category B) varieties.

InⅠ-ⅢPhase registration clinical research stage, Pegbin andA head-to-head comparative clinical trial was conducted against the oral drug (Pegasys), and the results demonstrated that Pegbin’s efficacy and safetyThe efficacy was comparable to that of the control drug, while the neutralizing antibody seroconversion rate was significantly lower than that of the control drug.

Amoytop Biotech holds full independent rights to this drug.Intellectual Property: Patents granted in China, Europe, the United States, Japan, and other countries; drug R&D and related clinical applications have received nationalDuring the 11th, 12th, and 13th Five-Year Plan periods4Item “Major New Drug Creation” National Science and Technology MajorContinued support for major special projects.