China's Small Nucleic Acid Therapeutics Surge onto Global Market with Strategic Acquisitions and Innovative Pipeline

Recently, Sino Biopharm announced that it would acquire all shares of SANEGENEBIO, an innovative pharmaceutical company in China's small interfering RNA (siRNA) field, for a total price of 1.2 billion yuan.

Through this acquisition, Sino Biopharm has made a significant gain.A leading independent technology platform in the siRNA field, a diversified product pipeline, and a professional R&D team,Further enriches the Group's pipeline layout.

This is not Sino Biopharm's first foray into the small nucleic acid sector, but it is the first major acquisition in China’s small nucleic acid field initiated by a large pharmaceutical company. Previously, as one of the investors, Sino Biopharm participated in SANEGENEBIO's over $110 million Series B financing round completed in December 2025, which, together with the current full acquisition of Hejiya Bio, forms itsSystematic Strategy in the Small Nucleic Acid Drug Track.

At present, the small nucleic acid track is in a strategic window period of "high growth, high potential, and high competition." The global pharmaceutical industry landscape may face reshaping as a result.

For the companies involved, the core of competition has shifted from single products to the breakthrough capability of platform technologies.Who can seize the commanding heights in this disruptive innovation competition and win the initiative in the future trillion-dollar market?

Acquire "Dark Horse" Pharmaceutical Company

The "high efficiency and long duration" advantages of small nucleic acid drugs can significantly improve patient medication adherence.Convenience, Compliance, thereby improving the overall treatment efficacy.

For large pharmaceutical companies, developing an entirely new drug platform through an in-house team requires significant resource investment. However, through mergers and acquisitions, they can quickly acquire cutting-edge technology platforms, talent teams, and clinical pipelines, reducing the time needed for market deployment.Sino Biopharm's acquisition comes at a time when the efficacy of small nucleic acid drugs is being validated and their advantages are becoming prominent.

The most notable product in Hegia's core pipeline is the small nucleic acid product targeting LPA, known as Kylo-11. This drug is developed throughHegia Bio Core Technology Platform——MVIP Intrahepatic Delivery Platform, developed byThe World's First Clinical Trial Results Achieved"Once-a-year injection" small nucleic acid product.A single subcutaneous injection can achieve 95%LipoproteinThe reduction in Lp(a) is expected to last for more than a year, with a dosage much lower than similar products, offering higher safety and ease of use.

This drug targets a specific group within the global population of approximately 3 billion people with dyslipidemia. Over 1.4 billion individuals have Lp(a) levels above 50mg/dL, and elevated Lp(a) is significantly associated with risks such as myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, and peripheral artery disease. Kylo-11 completed the dosing of its first patient in the China-U.S. international multicenter Phase II clinical trial in October 2025, making it the fastest-progressing small nucleic acid product in China for treating hyperlipoproteinemia (a).

Notably, what Sino Biopharm is eyeing is not only an ultra-long-acting lipid-lowering drug that can achieve "one injection per year," but alsoThe possibility of颠覆整个疾病治疗模式.

Hedya Bio is called a "dark horse" in the small nucleic acid field, mainly due to its self-developed multi-tissue delivery siRNA platform,Considered to be far ahead of industry standards in both delivery efficiency and product efficacy.

Its most disruptive innovation is the MVIP intrahepatic delivery platform, which has demonstrated superior delivery efficiency and effectiveness in both in vitro and in vivo models compared to existing similar platforms, and has already been granted a U.S. patent.

Another innovative platform is the Dual-Drug Payload (DDP) technology platform, capable of simultaneously delivering dual-target siRNA to achieve a "1+1>2" synergistic therapeutic breakthrough. By integrating with different tissue-targeting platforms, it can be used to develop treatments for complex or refractory diseases mediated by multiple targets and mechanisms.

In addition, Hegia Bio's Neural System Delivery Platform (NSDP) is making forward-looking arrangements in the field of neurological disease delivery, addressing unmet clinical needs in the CNS and PNS. It is expected that a product will enter the clinical stage by 2026.

The strength of SANEGENEBIO goes beyond this. With profound technical accumulation, SANEGENEBIO has already achieved6 major intrahepatic/extrahepatic delivery platforms, 4 innovative drugs entering clinical stages, over 20 projects in preclinical stages, and 2 out-licensing agreements achieved.These pipelines all have significant global FIC and BIC potential.

What is the future of small nucleic acids?

As RNAi technology continues to demonstrate its clinical translation and commercialization capabilities, the global RNAi sector is gaining momentum at an accelerating pace.Since 2025, the total amount of global disclosed transactions has been approximately USD 35 billion, increasing more than 40% year-on-year.

According to Frost & Sullivan data, the global market size of small nucleic acid drugs has grown from US$10 million in 2016 to US$3.25 billion in 2021, with an annual compound growth rate as high as 217.8%. Evaluate and BCG predict that by 2026, the global market size for oligonucleotide drugs will exceed US$15 billion.

In the Chinese market, small nucleic acid drug R&D companies are also starting to accelerate their layout. The growth potential of the market is even more significant. According to a research report by Dongwu Securities,China's RNAi therapy market was approximately USD 4 million in 2022 and is expected to exceed USD 300 million by 2025, with a CAGR of over 300%. It is projected to reach about USD 3 billion by 2030.

2025 is being called the "Year of Going Global" for China's small nucleic acid industry.Chinese companies have not only successfully overcome the "bottleneck" of delivery patent barriers, but also demonstrated global competitiveness in target selection and molecular design.As BWEL Pharma reaches a deep strategic cooperation with Novartis, involving licensing deals for multiple small nucleic acid drugs, with a total amount exceeding 5 billion US dollars; RiboBio partners with BI on a small nucleic acid drug for treating NASH/MASH in a collaboration worth over 2 billion US dollars.

At the same time, Chinese players in the small nucleic acid sector are upgrading from single products to platform capabilities. A complete technology platform and delivery system are becoming key to a company's long-term competitiveness. Companies such as Higene Bio, RiboBio, BoWang Pharma, and SANEGENEBIO have established delivery platforms with independent intellectual property rights.

Since the beginning of 2026, there have been frequent developments in the small nucleic acid field.SANEGENEBIO's self-developed siRNA candidate drug SGB-7342 has completed the first subject dosing in a Phase 1 clinical study in China for the treatment of obesity at the First Hospital of Jilin University; Ribo Biotech successfully listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange with an issue price of HK$57.97 per share, raising a total of over HK$1.8 billion.

Industry analysis suggests that the gradual expansion of market space is due not only to high convenience and high compliance, but also to its mechanism of action. It is reported that siRNA can directly target mRNA upstream of protein expression, achieving therapeutic purposes by modulating mRNA transcription levels.It can target previously "undruggable" target genes, expanding the application scope from rare diseases to more common diseases, including cardiovascular, metabolic, neuropsychiatric, and cancer fields.

Meanwhile, despite the broad development prospects of small nucleic acid drugs, their research and commercialization still face multiple challenges. Technically, the application of siRNA technology still encounters many limitations. On one hand, although various delivery carriers have been developed, achieving efficient extrahepatic tissue delivery remains a key challenge yet to be overcome. On the other hand, safety issues such as the drug's immunogenicity, potential off-target effects, and insufficient stability in vivo also constitute major obstacles in the research and development process.

Currently, the global pharmaceutical industry is undergoing a profound transformation from traditional chemical drugs and biologics to precision-targeted therapies. With their unique mechanisms, small nucleic acid drugs are expected to become a disruptive force leading the future. In this race,Whoever can be the first to overcome the above technical difficulties will be able to seize the market opportunity.Sino Biopharm, evidently, has made an early move in this crucial competition and secured a favorable position.

The reference materials are from publicly available online information, including news, corporate official websites, and government documents.