Capital is a good thing that can prompt you to quickly grow and become stronger, giving you the ability to realize your dreams overnight.
Capital is not a good thing. No matter how beautiful a soap bubble is, it will eventually burst. You may no longer be you, but just a tool used by capital, or even a corpse on his way to vent his desire for money.
Some people say that medicine is the virgin land of China's "huge profits", but it is the capital market that has saved the entire pharmaceutical industry and helped biopharmaceutical companies complete their transformation. The capital market has continuously injected blood into so many continuously losing biopharmaceutical companies, using high expectations and overvaluation to maintain the prosperity of the biopharmaceutical industry. The desperate gold rush, with huge initial investment and later wealth, will inevitably result in more people losing their money.
We all see that capital has driven breakthrough innovation in biopharmaceuticals. In 2021, a total of 1274 investment and financing events were recorded in the global biopharmaceutical field, an increase of 34.1% compared to 2020, involving a total amount of 377.4 billion yuan, an increase of 34.4% compared to 2020.
There were 522 domestic financing events, an increase of 53.1% compared to 2020, with a total amount of 111.3 billion yuan, a further increase of 26% compared to 2020.
Small molecule and antibody drugs have always accounted for a relatively high proportion in the domestic biopharmaceutical field. Among them, small molecule drugs have seen further growth in recent years due to the emergence of new technological pathways. However, both have reached a bottleneck in their growth in 2021. Instead, innovative biotechnology fields such as ADC, cell therapy, gene therapy, and nucleic acid drugs have experienced significant growth in 2021, It has become the main driving force for the overall growth of investment and financing in the biopharmaceutical field at present.
In 2021, the proportion of financing amounts for Series B and beyond internationally reached 55.4% of the total financing amount. This data indicates that the maturity of leading companies in the global biopharmaceutical industry is gradually increasing, and from the early stage of concept validation and exploration, they are gradually entering the stage of establishing commercial models.
The A-round events account for 34.3% of the overall proportion, and most A-round enterprises focus on the more cutting-edge biotechnology field. Considering the continuous acceleration of biotechnology industrialization, it is expected that future investment and financing events in the biopharmaceutical field will still be dominated by the A-round.
In 2021, the amount of financing after Series B in China accounted for 59.6% of the total financing amount, while in 2017, the investment and financing amount after Series B only accounted for 21.5% of the total. It is not difficult to see that the exit path for domestic listings is becoming increasingly mature.
The trend of investment and financing in the domestic biopharmaceutical field indicates a significant increase in the popularity of CRO/CDMO, with financing amounts increasing by 99.17% in 2021 compared to 2020.
In 2021, the dandelion (ouryao) compiled some hot investment events that are worth paying attention to:
1. Baekje Shenzhou has suffered losses for ten years, but investors remain steadfast
In 2021, BeiGene's biopharmaceutical sector had a high IPO record, raising nearly 3.4 billion US dollars, becoming the first biopharmaceutical company to be listed on the US, Hong Kong, and A-shares simultaneously. Although its market value reached nearly 150 billion, despite losing money, investors remained steadfast.
2. Global biopharmaceutical unicorn enterprises, China already occupies half of the country's territory
According to the 2021 Global Unicorn List released by Hurun Research Institute, there are a total of 31 biotech companies and 16 Chinese enterprises. Amoy Vaccine (30 billion yuan), Aibo Biotechnology (27 billion yuan), and Feipeng Biotechnology (19.5 billion yuan) have ranked among the top three domestic biotech companies. Amoy Vaccine has become the only biotech enterprise in China with a value exceeding 30 billion yuan on the list.
3. Cancer remains a hot investment area
In the field of cancer, there are 114 traditional small molecule therapies, 83 cell therapies, and 45 traditional monoclonal antibodies, which undoubtedly continue to be popular investment areas.
4. CAR-T is at the forefront of cell therapy sub sectors
In 2021, CAR-T cell therapy received massive support from investors. According to public data, a total of about 30 financing events were disclosed, with a cumulative financing of over 2.8 billion US dollars, ranking first in the cell therapy sub field.
5. AI Pharmaceuticals: Stories are not easy to tell, with big ups and downs
In 2021, the domestic AI pharmaceutical industry remains highly imaginative. There were 12 financing events with a total amount exceeding 2.7 billion RMB, a year-on-year increase of about 10 times. Major domestic VC and BAT entered the market, making this track a battle between capital layout and large factories. The market prospects are huge and full of storytelling. But the story is not easy to tell, and there may be big ups and downs.
6. Everyone in the pharmaceutical industry hopes to have an RNA project
In 2021, the RNA therapy track saw a sharp increase in popularity and investment enthusiasm. If small molecule drugs and antibody drugs are referred to as the first two revolutions of biopharmaceuticals, RNA drug therapy will lead the third industrial revolution of biopharmaceuticals.
MRNA therapy has a high popularity, with over 20 financing events and a cumulative financing of over 2 billion US dollars. It is worth mentioning that in 2021, more than 80% (17 cases) of mRNA therapy related financing occurred in China, among which Aibo Biotechnology attracted over 1.1 billion US dollars through three rounds of financing (Series B, Series C, and Series C+).
7. The development of non viral vectors has become a hot financing topic
In 2021, more than 80 related investment and IPO events were announced in the field of gene therapy/gene editing therapy/base editing therapy, with a total financing of over 5.8 billion US dollars. The development of non viral vectors has become a hot financing topic.
8. The cell therapy track derived from iPSC is rapidly gaining popularity in China
In 2021, the field of cell therapy announced over 130 financing and IPO events, with a total financing amount of nearly 10 billion US dollars. The financing enthusiasm for stem cell therapy represented by iPSC is high, with over 40 financing events disclosed and a total financing of over 2.6 billion US dollars. The rapid rise of the iPSC track in China is closely related to the industrial progress abroad.
Due to the critical clinical progress of CAR-NK products derived from Fate Therapeutics iPSC, there has been widespread attention on the iPSC track in China. In addition to tumor treatment, iPSC technology is currently also applied in other fields such as degenerative neurological diseases and heart failure.
9. The heat of biopharmaceutical research and development is not decreasing, and the demand for CDMO is increasing rapidly
In 2021, the biopharmaceutical CDMO track was mainly influenced by positive signals released by its downstream industries. More and more large molecule biopharmaceutical companies are entering the later clinical stage, releasing a large demand for process research and development and production outsourcing. As a result, the biopharmaceutical CDMO field has received widespread attention from investment institutions in 2021, with investment of hundreds of millions of yuan from companies such as Beinuo Biotechnology, Zhenge Biotechnology, Haoyang Biotechnology, Jiabei Pharmaceutical, Zhao Derivatives, Zhixiang Biotechnology, and Dingkang Biotechnology.
10. The localization of upstream biopharmaceutical industries has received great attention
The upstream industries related to the entire biopharmaceutical field include reagents, consumables, instruments and equipment such as culture media, enzymes, recombinant proteins, and disposable reaction systems. Due to the obstruction of overseas supply chains during the epidemic, the supply of imported products has been greatly restricted, highlighting the importance of localization.
The localization of the upstream biopharmaceutical industry has therefore received great attention in 2021. The Biopharmaceutical Localization Promotion Association (BLA) jointly initiated by a group of domestic enterprises such as Dandelion (ouryao) and Lechun Biotechnology has been officially completed in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, which is worth looking forward to.
