Financial Services Association, September 10 (Reporter He Fan) At the results meeting held today, Yang Liang, director of the Pearl Group (000513.SZ), responded to issues such as the year-on-year decline in the company's revenue and financial data for various segments, and predicted that “the year-on-year pressure for the second half of this year will be less.” However, in response to the sales volume of tocilizumab injections, President Tang Yanggang revealed to the Financial Federation that the overall market size of this product in China is small. Furthermore, the impact of collection on companies was also an issue that attracted much attention at the conference.

The main business of the Livou Group is the R&D, production and sales of pharmaceutical products. The products cover pharmaceutical products, APIs and intermediates, and diagnostic reagents and equipment. The main products include Yiliane (iprazole enteric tablets and injectable iprazole sodium), Rebelix (rabeprazole sodium enteric capsules), etc.

Financial reports show that in the first half of the year, the Pearl Group achieved revenue of 6.282 billion yuan, a slight decrease of 6.09% over the previous year. In response, Yang Liang explained that due to price cuts in national negotiations and the collection of some products, digestive tract product revenue fell 19.96% year on year, which dragged down the company's revenue in the chemical formulation sector in the first half of the year. In the traditional Chinese medicine formulation sector, anti-viral particles were greatly affected by the high base of influenza and COVID-19 in the same period last year, leading to a year-on-year decrease in H1 revenue this year. Revenue in the diagnostic reagents and equipment sector increased year-on-year due to accelerated sales growth of respiratory products and major infectious disease products.

In the first half of the year, the company's chemical formulation sector achieved revenue of 3.224 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 7.37%; the traditional Chinese medicine formulation sector achieved revenue of 0.745 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 21.89%; and the diagnostic reagents and equipment segment achieved revenue of 0.394 billion yuan, an increase of 32.33% over the previous year.

Yang Liang further explained, “The company's profit increased by single digits in the first half of this year. Comparing the sales situation of this year and last year, in the first half of 2023, due to macro-environmental impacts, the base of Shenqi Fuzheng injections, antiviral granules, and iprazole injections was high. Coupled with the price reduction of this year's national negotiations, some products were affected by collection, and there was some pressure on the performance of the first half of this year. It is expected that the third and fourth quarter of this year will gradually improve, and profits will strive to maintain steady growth throughout the year.”

In terms of innovative drugs, Livou Group's tocilizumab injections were approved for marketing in early 2023. Currently, indications include rheumatoid arthritis, cytokine release syndrome (CRS), and juvenile idiopathic arthritis (sJIA). In response to the sales volume of the drug, Tang Yanggang, president of Lizhu Group, told the Finance Association reporter, “Judging from market data, the overall market size of tocilizumab in China is small, but the growth rate is impressive.”

In terms of collection, in 2023, the products of the Livou Group for injection voriconazole and injectable cefodizine sodium participated in the eighth batch of collection bids and were selected.

Tang Yanggang told the Financial Federation reporter that the overall impact of national procurement on the company is limited. The price reduction of the products that won the bid in the eighth batch will not have a significant impact on the company's operations. Furthermore, no products from the company participated in the ninth batch of collection. In terms of provincial joint procurement, Tang Yanggang revealed, “Liangbingruilin microspheres won the bid exclusively, opening up a new gap market, compensating for prices by volume, and increasing significantly on the sales side.”