Recently, Sinopharm Group's subsidiary, Sinopharm Innovation Pharmaceuticals (Xinnova), announced that the board of directors has received written resignation reports from Chairman Pan Weidong and Director Yang Dong. After their resignations, they will no longer hold any positions within the company.
It is noteworthy that there have been several personnel changes within the Sinopharm Group this year. At the beginning of September, Liu Yongjun, the former president of Innovent Biologics, just took up the position of Executive President and Global R&D President of Sinopharm Group. In addition, in terms of business, Sinopharm Group has made multifaceted bets. On one hand, it has increased its investment in innovative drugs through restructuring and acquisitions. On the other hand, it has taken over Jingfeng Pharmaceuticals, which was on the brink of delisting, to complement its traditional Chinese medicine segment.
In the secondary market, Sinopharm Group's overall performance has been pessimistic due to factors such as centralized procurement. On September 19th, Sinopharm Group announced plans to further repurchase up to 5 billion Hong Kong dollars worth of company shares, causing the company's stock price to rebound slightly. As of the close on September 25th, Sinopharm Group's stock price was 5.24 Hong Kong dollars, up 1.16%; Sinopharm Innovation Pharmaceuticals' stock price was 24.2 yuan, up 8.52%.
Multiple Personnel Changes Have Occurred
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According to the announcement from Sinopharm Innovation Pharmaceuticals, Pan Weidong resigned as the company's chairman and director, as well as the member and convener of the Strategy Committee, due to work changes. After his resignation, he will no longer hold any position within the company. Mr. Pan Weidong's original term was set to expire on April 6, 2026.
Yang Dong resigned from his position as a company director, as well as his roles as a member of the Audit Committee and the Compensation and Assessment Committee, due to work changes. After his resignation, he will no longer hold any position within the company. Mr. Yang Dong's original term was set to expire on April 6, 2026.
Sinopharm Innovation Pharmaceuticals stated that the work previously undertaken by Mr. Pan Weidong and Mr. Yang Dong has been smoothly handed over and will not affect the normal operation of the company. It will not have an adverse impact on the company's standardized operations and production and business activities. The company will complete the supplementary election of company directors as soon as possible in accordance with legal procedures.
Based on the deliberation results of the 18th meeting of the sixth board of directors of Sinopharm Innovation Pharmaceuticals, the member and convener of the Strategy Committee changed from Pan Weidong to Yao Bing, the member of the Audit Committee changed from Yang Dong to Xu Wen, and the member of the Compensation and Assessment Committee changed from Yang Dong to Dai Long.
The position of chairman was elected to be held by the company's director and general manager, Yao Bing. Looking at his resume, Pan Weidong was born in December 1969 and holds a master's degree. He has worked at Shijiazhuang Art Center, Hebei Pharmaceutical (Group) Co., Ltd., and Zhongnuo Pharmaceuticals. He later served as an executive director of Sinopharm Group, vice chairman of Sinopharm Holdings, and chairman of Sinopharm Innovation Pharmaceuticals. Yao Bing was born in May 1977 and holds a master's degree. He has worked at Sinopharm Group Hebei Zhongrun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Zhongnuo Pharmaceuticals. He later served as the executive president of Sinopharm Group Co., Ltd. and is currently the chairman of Sinopharm Innovation Pharmaceuticals.In addition to the aforementioned personnel changes, in April of this year, Han Feng, the general manager of Shiyi Innovation Pharmaceuticals, and Wang Huaiyu, a director, also resigned. The main body of Shiyi, Shiyi Group, also welcomed a "new leader in research and development" at the beginning of September, Liu Yongjun, who was appointed as the executive president and global R&D president. Before joining Shiyi Group, Liu Yongjun served as the president of the innovative pharmaceutical company Innovent Biologics.
Established pharmaceutical companies seek innovation and change
The frequent personnel changes in the Shiyi Group may be related to its transformation in recent years.
In September last year, Xinnuowei, a listed A-share company under Shiyi Group, announced plans to increase cash capital in Shiyi Group's Jushi Bio, aiming to control Jushi Bio and take the first step into the innovative drug track.
In January this year, Xinnuowei issued another announcement stating that it would use cash and shares to pay for the acquisition of Shiyi Group's subsidiary, BaiKe Bio (hereinafter referred to as "Shiyi BaiKe"). Shiyi BaiKe is mainly engaged in innovative biopharmaceutical businesses such as long-acting protein drugs, and the acquisition will undoubtedly further improve Xinnuowei's innovative drug platform.
In the field of traditional Chinese medicine, Shiyi Group has also set its sights on Jingfeng Pharmaceuticals, which is on the brink of delisting. On August 28, Hunan Jingfeng Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. issued an announcement on the determination of pre-restructuring investors and risk warnings, confirming that the consortium led by Shiyi Holdings as the leading investor was selected as the preferred reorganization investor.
Industry insiders believe that Shiyi's entry into *ST Jingfeng is mainly to strengthen the group's traditional Chinese medicine segment, as Shiyi Ouyee, Jiangxi Jin Furong Pharmaceutical, and Shiyi Group Yuanda (Dalian) under Shiyi Group are all involved in the production of traditional Chinese medicine. Once the acquisition is successful, Shiyi may gradually integrate its traditional Chinese medicine business into Jingfeng Pharmaceuticals.
The fundamental reason for Shiyi Group's busy transformation is that it has entered a situation of weak performance growth in recent years. The semi-annual performance report for 2024 shows that the company's revenue in the first half of the year was 16.284 billion yuan, an increase of 1.3% compared to the same period last year; its traditional Chinese medicine business revenue was 13.549 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.8%.
The revenue from nervous system drugs was 5.235 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15%, and Enbipu was the main driving force for the performance growth of this segment. The capsule form of this drug was launched in 2005 and is the first Class 1 new drug in the domestic cardiovascular and cerebrovascular field. It is also an exclusive product of Enbipu under Shiyi Group with patent protection, used for the treatment of acute ischemic stroke.
However, the revenue from the anti-tumor and cardiovascular drug segments was somewhat disappointing due to the impact of centralized procurement, with revenues of 2.683 billion yuan and 1.229 billion yuan respectively, down 10.2% and 4.5% year-on-year, respectively. Therefore, Shiyi Group urgently needs new performance drivers in addition to Enbipu.Currently, Stone Pharmaceutical Group and its subsidiaries have several innovative drug pipelines that have entered the later stages of development. The most eye-catching is the core research pipeline of GLP-1 drug TG103 injection by Stone Pharmaceutical BaiKe, whose overweight indication has entered Phase III clinical trials. The clinical trials for the treatment of non-alcoholic fatty liver hepatitis and Alzheimer's are also being promoted. It is also understood that TG103 has the potential for a super-long duration of two weeks of injection, which indeed has a certain advantage compared to the current frequency of once a week injection of semaglutide.