Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co.,Ltd. delivered its first loss-making interim report since its public listing. On August 20 evening, the company announced that for the first half of 2025, both revenue and net profit declined significantly, with net losses reaching 144 million yuan, representing a dramatic 155.3% year-over-year decline. The adjusted net profit after non-recurring items fell even more steeply by 481.93%. The company, which previously achieved explosive growth through China's first domestically-produced bivalent HPV vaccine, now faces multiple challenges including nine-valent vaccine age expansion, intensified competition, and market cooling. Although its nine-valent HPV vaccine launched in June this year, market response has fallen short of expectations, while rising production costs continue to pressure profitability. Additionally, as numerous competitors enter China's HPV vaccine market, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy faces risks of market share erosion.
**Revenue and Net Profit Both Decline**
For the first half of 2025, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy delivered its worst interim performance since listing. Financial statements show the company achieved operating revenue of 8.44 billion yuan, down 38.25% year-over-year; net profit attributable to shareholders recorded a loss of 144 million yuan, declining 155.3% year-over-year; adjusted net profit attributable to shareholders after non-recurring items showed a loss of 243 million yuan, plummeting 481.93% year-over-year.
Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy attributed this performance decline to market adjustments affecting its vaccine segment and factors including nine-valent HPV vaccine age expansion, leading to sales below expectations and causing vaccine segment revenue to fall compared to the same period last year.
The vaccine segment, which once supported half of Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy's business, became a significant driver of the first-half loss.
In May 2020, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy's independently developed bivalent HPV vaccine "Xinkeneng" officially launched, making it China's first approved domestic bivalent HPV vaccine company. At that time, the HPV vaccine market only included GlaxoSmithKline's bivalent vaccine "Cervarix" and Merck's nine-valent vaccine "Gardasil 9."
Leveraging its "first domestic" uniqueness and price advantages, "Xinkeneng" successfully scaled after launch, driving explosive growth for Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy. In 2022, "Xinkeneng" sales exceeded 25 million doses, with the entire vaccine segment generating 8.493 billion yuan in revenue.
However, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy's peak performance didn't last long.
In 2022, Walvax Biotechnology's bivalent vaccine "Wozehui" received approval for market launch, with a two-dose regimen costing 712 yuan and a three-dose regimen costing 1,068 yuan, averaging 356 yuan per dose, further fragmenting market share. In August of the same year, Merck expanded "Gardasil 9" vaccination age from 16-26 years to 9-45 years for eligible women, eliminating Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy's bivalent HPV vaccine age advantage.
With increasing competitors and imported product age expansion, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy's vaccine segment faced sustained pressure. In 2024, company revenue fell 59.25% to 2.245 billion yuan, only one-fifth of its 2022 peak, while net profit declined 91.49% year-over-year to just 106 million yuan. The vaccine segment revenue dropped 84.69% year-over-year.
**Can Nine-Valent Launch Turn Losses into Profits?**
Facing bivalent market challenges, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy placed hopes on its nine-valent HPV vaccine.
In June 2025, Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy's nine-valent HPV vaccine "Xinkeneng 9" received market approval, becoming China's first and globally second nine-valent HPV vaccine. Subsequently, on July 8, the company officially announced pricing for China's first domestic nine-valent HPV vaccine "Xinkeneng 9" at 499 yuan per dose. This price represents only 38% of the imported nine-valent HPV vaccine market price of 1,318 yuan per dose.
Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy's pricing strategy was clear, prompting competitor Merck to quickly launch a "counterattack." Price-wise, starting May 2025, Zhifei Biological's Merck nine-valent HPV vaccine agency introduced "buy-one-get-one-free" promotions across multiple provinces and cities. For 9-14-year-old females receiving two doses, actual payment required only about 1,320 yuan, equivalent to approximately 650 yuan per dose.
Meanwhile, in the male market emerging as the new competitive focus, "Gardasil 9" received multiple new indication approvals from China's National Medical Products Administration in April this year, applicable for 16-26-year-old males, becoming China's first and currently only approved nine-valent HPV vaccine suitable for eligible males and females, again securing first-mover advantage in the male market. Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy remains in the phase of initiating male Phase III clinical trials and completing first patient enrollment.
Beyond pressure from Merck, domestic competitors are also encircling. Canlife Biotechnology, RiboVax Biotechnology, Shanghai Bovax Biotechnology, and other companies' nine-valent HPV vaccines have all entered Phase III clinical trials, expected to launch intensively between 2026-2028.
Notably, the overall HPV vaccine market shows cooling trends. Once "impossible to obtain," it now faces market cooling and significant price drops.
In February this year, Merck announced temporary suspension of "Gardasil 9" nine-valent HPV vaccine supply to China, aiming to help domestic agent Zhifei Biological digest inventory.
Zhifei Biological's performance clearly demonstrates industry cooling signals. In the first half of 2025, Zhifei Biological achieved operating revenue of 4.919 billion yuan, down 73.06% year-over-year; attributable net profit posted a loss of 597 million yuan, compared to 2.234 billion yuan profit in the same period last year, shifting from profit to loss year-over-year. Nine-valent HPV vaccines are similarly losing their luster.
Pharmaceutical industry analyst Li Yukun noted that Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy still faces numerous future challenges. In the vaccine segment, how to enhance nine-valent HPV vaccine market share amid fierce competition remains an urgent issue for the company. Additionally, as more domestic HPV vaccines launch, market competition may further deteriorate. In the diagnostics segment, addressing policy change impacts and cultivating new business growth points equally tests the company's operational capabilities.
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