Beijing Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise Co., Ltd. (603392.SH) disclosed its 2025 financial report in April 2026, revealing its first net loss since going public. During the reporting period, the company experienced significant declines in both revenue and net profit, with net profit attributable to shareholders turning negative. Its core driver, the HPV vaccine business, is facing a triple challenge of weak sales, steep price reductions, and high inventory levels. The company, which once created a growth miracle with its bivalent HPV vaccine, is now suffering from a combination of industry policy shifts, intense market competition, and contracting demand, reflecting a drastic shift in the domestic HPV vaccine market from severe shortages to an oversupply situation.
The 2025 financial report shows that annual operating revenue was 1.819 billion yuan, a decrease of 18.99% year-on-year. The net profit attributable to shareholders was a loss of 398 million yuan, plummeting by 474.89% compared to the previous year. After deducting non-recurring gains and losses, the net loss was 623 million yuan. Net cash flow from operating activities was 89.754 million yuan, down 74.72% year-on-year. Several key performance indicators recorded their worst performance since the company's listing.
Quarterly performance indicated a trend of widening losses. Net losses for the first to fourth quarters were -52.7769 million yuan, -91.2612 million yuan, -29.3838 million yuan, and -225 million yuan, respectively. The loss in the fourth quarter alone accounted for nearly 60% of the annual total, indicating intensifying operational pressure. Both total assets and net assets attributable to shareholders declined, falling by 4.39% and 3.25% respectively compared to the previous year, putting pressure on both asset quality and profitability.
The primary trigger for the substantial loss was a sharp decline in sales of the core HPV vaccine business. The bivalent HPV vaccine, which was once the main profit contributor accounting for over 60% of gross profit, suffered a collapse in both volume and price in 2025. Squeezed by the expansion of Merck's nonavalent vaccine eligibility to ages 9-45, shrinking demand in the private-pay market, and significant price reductions in government procurement, the company was forced to make large asset impairment provisions, which directly wiped out the year's profits.
Both the vaccine and in-vitro diagnostic segments saw declines. Revenue from the vaccine segment was 457 million yuan, down 24.63% year-on-year, while operating costs surged against the trend by 85.43%. The gross profit margin for this segment plummeted by 43.18 percentage points to 27.25%. Revenue from diagnostic reagents was 1.309 billion yuan, a decrease of 18.65%, with the gross profit margin also declining to 56.99%.
Although the company's nonavalent HPV vaccine received approval in June 2025, making it the first domestic and second globally approved nonavalent vaccine, it was still in the market access and channel development phase during the reporting period. Covering 27 provinces and over 30,000 vaccination sites, it had not yet generated significant profit contributions and could not offset the decline from the bivalent vaccine.
Rising costs and expenses further exacerbated the losses. The company maintained high research and development investment in 2025, coupled with increasing market promotion and channel construction expenses. Meanwhile, revenue continued to contract, creating an inverted pattern of falling income and rising costs. Furthermore, after the bivalent vaccine was included in the National Immunization Program, the winning bid price dropped to 27.5 yuan per dose, a decrease of over 90% from the initial launch price of 329 yuan, severely compressing profit margins. The strategy of trading price for volume failed to translate into profit growth.
Amidst operational and market pressures, investor enthusiasm for Beijing Wantai Biological has waned. In 2025, the company's stock price fell by 36%, and it has declined a further 13% year-to-date in 2026. In response to the company's losses, Chairman Qiu Zixin announced in April 2026 that he would voluntarily forgo his salary. The General Manager, CFO, and Deputy General Managers also voluntarily relinquished their 2025 performance bonuses.
The company's performance downturn is not merely a result of operational missteps but reflects a fundamental shift in the domestic HPV vaccine market. The previous scenario of long waiting lists and extreme scarcity has vanished, replaced by an industry chill characterized by contracting demand, fierce price competition, and high inventory levels, indicating a fundamental change in market dynamics.
Policy has been a key driver of this industry transformation. In November 2025, China officially included the bivalent HPV vaccine in the National Immunization Program, providing free vaccination for 13-year-old girls. Government procurement became the dominant channel. Both Beijing Wantai Biological and Walvax Biotechnology's bivalent vaccines won bids at 27.5 yuan per dose, a drop of over 90% from initial launch prices, effectively ending the era of high gross margins. The expansion of the public-funded market has squeezed out the private-pay segment, whose demand continues to shrink. The bivalent vaccine has transitioned from a 'consumer option' to a 'public good,' completely upending corporate profit models.
Competition has intensified, characterized by high-priced products squeezing out lower-priced ones and imported vaccines dominating domestic ones. Merck's nonavalent vaccine, with its expanded age range and increased supply, leverages its brand strength to capture the high-end market. Although Beijing Wantai Biological's nonavalent vaccine entered the market at a low price of 499 yuan per dose—only 40% of the imported price—it faces a long market cultivation period and slow terminal penetration, making it difficult to quickly gain market share.
Furthermore, substantial demand contraction is evident, with vaccination willingness continuing to cool. A large proportion of the primary target demographic has already been vaccinated, bringing the存量 market close to saturation and limiting new demand. Compounded by 'vaccine hesitancy,' where some individuals actively choose not to vaccinate, HPV vaccines have shifted from being 'essential consumption' to 'discretionary spending,' causing market demand to peak earlier than anticipated.
With the supply-demand relationship completely reversed, the industry has entered a destocking cycle. Beijing Wantai Biological's significant impairment provision for its bivalent vaccine, alongside similar asset impairment pressures faced by peers like Walvax Biotechnology, indicates that leading companies are collectively under performance pressure. The HPV vaccine industry has transitioned from a 'high-growth track' to a fiercely competitive 'red ocean' market.
Looking ahead, the HPV vaccine market has entered a new phase of structural adjustment and survival of the fittest. The National Immunization Program is pushing the industry back towards its public health attributes, narrowing the space for the high-priced private market. Companies can no longer rely on a single product for超额 profits. Future competition among vaccine companies will focus on international markets, innovative technological pathways, R&D capability, cost control, and channel deployment.
A potential bright spot in Beijing Wantai Biological's 2025 performance was its overseas revenue, which reached 412 million yuan, an increase of 90% year-on-year, with a slight improvement in gross margin. The company's board secretary's office stated that overseas products include the bivalent HPV vaccine, hepatitis E vaccine, and diagnostic reagents.
For Beijing Wantai Biological, the key to escaping losses will depend on whether its nonavalent vaccine can achieve rapid sales growth, whether breakthroughs can be made in international markets, and whether its R&D pipeline can deliver the next generation of products. For the broader industry, the inevitable trend is to move beyond野蛮生长 (wild growth), shift towards compliant innovation, and focus firmly on clinical value.
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