FAST NEWS: Henlius Biotech’s annual sales double, but loss widens in second half

The latest: Shanghai Henlius Biotech Inc. (2696.HK) reported last Friday its revenue soared 91.1% to 3.21 billion yuan ($466 million) last year, while its annual net loss narrowed 29.4% to 695 million yuan.

Looking up: Sales of its core product, hanquyou, jumped 95.2% to 1.69 billion yuan last year, accounting for more than half of the company’s total revenue. It plans to push ahead with registration for the product’s approval in the U.S., Brazil and Indonesia this year.

Take Note: The company’s loss in the second half of the year reached 443 million yuan, up substantially from 252 million in the first half, mainly due to a 64% sequential increase in R&D spending.

Digging Deeper: Founded in 2010, Henlius is a biopharmaceutical company owned by Fosun Pharma (2196.HK; 600196.SH), one of China’s leading private drug makers. The company debuted on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2019 and made a major breakthrough the same year when it attained approval for China’s first biosimilar, rituximab, for the treatment of Non-Hodgkin lymphoma and chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Henlius had won approval for five products by the end of last year, leading to significant post-IPO revenue growth. But the company is still in red due to high R&D and sales expenses, and has accumulated more than 4 billion yuan in losses over the past five years.

Market Reaction: Henlius shares jumped on Monday, closing up 5.8% at HK$11.96 by the midday break. The stock now trades at the lower end of its 52-week range.

Translation by Jony Ho

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