① After 3 consecutive years of losses, Shu Taishen's loss margin in 2023 increased further. ② Due to the parallel development of multiple R&D pipelines, R&D expenses continued to rise and surpassed annual revenue for the first time, further tightening the company's cash flow. ③ At the same time, the company announced that it will end a number of R&D projects related to COVID-19 indications.
Financial Services Association, March 25 (Reporter He Fan) After losing money for 3 consecutive years, Shu Taishen (300204.SZ)'s loss margin in 2023 further increased. Today, the company announced its 2023 financial report and simultaneously announced that it will terminate several R&D projects related to COVID-19 indications. This is not the first time that the company has terminated its research pipeline. Due to the parallel development of multiple R&D pipelines, R&D expenses continued to rise and surpassed annual revenue for the first time, further straining the company's cash flow.
This evening, Shu Taishen released its annual report. The revenue for 2023 was about 364 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 33.66%; the net profit loss attributable to shareholders of listed companies was about 399 million yuan, an increase of 102.48% year-on-year. According to the Financial Services Association reporter's statistics, the company has been in a state of loss since 2020, and there is a trend of further intensification.
As an innovative pharmaceutical company, Shu Taishen's main business is the R&D, production and marketing of biopharmaceuticals. It includes categories such as protein drugs (including therapeutic monoclonal antibody drugs) and chemical drugs, focusing on treatment fields such as infectious diseases, autoimmune system diseases, and neurological diseases.
The main products listed and sold by the company are threosepam (mouse nerve growth factor for injection) and sultaiqing (compound polyethylene glycol electrolyte powder (IV)) and its series of products, as well as chemicals such as aspirin enteric tablets. However, in 2023, threeptison achieved sales revenue of 162 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.99%; Shu Taiqing achieved sales revenue of 195 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 46.48%.
On the one hand, product sales revenue declined; on the other hand, R&D expenses continued to rise, even exceeding total revenue for the whole year. According to the annual report, multiple indications corresponding to the company's multiple research projects are continuing to advance clinical trials; some pre-clinical research projects in the company's R&D pipeline continued to advance; R&D expenses were 412 million yuan during the reporting period, an increase of 13.63% over the previous year.
According to statistics, the company is developing projects including monoclonal antibodies, proteins, genetic drugs, etc., involving various indications such as COVID-19 and asthma.
However, just today, Shu Taishen announced the termination of clinical trials for various research projects, involving research work on BDB-001 injection, STSA-1002 injection, STSA-1005 injection, STSA-1002 and STSA-1005 combined drug projects in the direction of COVID-19 indications, with a total R&D investment of 383 million yuan. The company attributed the termination to “based on the current COVID-19 situation, carried out in conjunction with the annual audit work.”
However, this is not the first time that Shu Taishen has terminated the research pipeline. In December 2023, the company announced that it will stop clinical trials and subsequent development of STSG-0002 injections. According to reports, the indication for STSG-0002 injection clinical trials is chronic hepatitis B. The injection is a recombinant adeno-associated virus with hepatophilic replication defects carrying a shRNA sequence matrix box targeting the P and X regions of the HBV genome. As of the announcement date, STSG-0002 injection R&D investment totaled approximately 150 million yuan (unaudited).
On January 8, the company announced that it would stop issuing shares to specific targets and withdraw application documents in comprehensive consideration of factors such as current capital market conditions, policy changes, company development plans, and market financing environment. On the evening of December 22, 2022, the company announced that it plans to raise no more than 580 million yuan of capital to no more than 35 specific investors for innovative drug research and development projects. According to the annual report, the company's balance of cash and cash equivalents at the end of the period has been reduced from 265 million yuan in 2022 to 85 million yuan.