The explosive growth in outbound business development transaction values for domestic innovative drugs has recently attracted significant market attention. A clear industry trend is emerging: the domestic innovative drug sector is achieving a qualitative transformation through the steady development of its BD operations. License-out agreements are not only placing homegrown innovative drugs on the global stage but are also driving the industry towards a profitability inflection point, establishing it as a core investment theme within the healthcare field.
The Fullgoal Healthcare Innovation Stock Fund (Class A: 019916, Class C: 019917), which precisely targets innovative drugs and their industrial chain, is positioned to capitalize on this surge in License-out activity and the profitability turning point, presenting a timely allocation opportunity.
The trend has evolved from single-product breakthroughs to a model of platform-based output. Previously, the global pharmaceutical BD market was characterized by small and medium-sized companies achieving collaborative breakthroughs with one or two major products, often struggling with sustainable follow-up research. Currently, the domestic companies engaged in overseas licensing are predominantly large, platform-based enterprises with rich technology reserves and higher R&D and clinical efficiency. This grants overseas collaborations for Chinese innovative drugs greater sustainability and solidifies China's position as a significant hub for global pharmaceutical innovation.
Data from a UBS report indicates that 40% of global licensing transactions in the ADC (Antibody-Drug Conjugate) field in 2023 were related to China. China has become a core supplier in global ADC innovation, transitioning from a past role as a technology importer to a current role as a global innovation partner, significantly enhancing the global influence of domestic innovative drugs.
The outbreak of License-out activity is directly propelling the domestic innovative drug industry past its profitability inflection point, decisively shedding the industry's former label of "burning cash without earning profits." Reviewing the industry's development, the 2021-2022 period was marked by comprehensive losses for the domestic innovative drug sector, with biotech firms commonly reporting annual losses of 10-30 billion yuan, leaving them highly dependent on financing. The 2023-2024 period saw an acceleration in loss reduction; some pharmaceutical companies turned profitable directly through major BD deals, while others achieved profitability based on volume growth of core products following inclusion in the national医保 reimbursement drug list, with revenues growing twentyfold over four years. The year 2025 became a milestone moment for the industry: 28 innovative drug companies listed on the STAR Market collectively reported a profit of 1.6 billion yuan, achieving an overall profit for the first time. Leading biotech firms achieved profitability as a group, formally transforming the innovative drug sector from a "cash-burning track" into a "profit-generating track."
License-out is the core driver behind this profitability reversal for the innovative drug industry. It not only provides pharmaceutical companies with substantial upfront payments but also, through ongoing milestone payments and long-term sales royalties, enables a shift from reliance on external financing for "blood transfusions" to self-sustaining operations that "generate their own blood," creating a virtuous cycle for industry development.
With the industry's inflection point established, innovative drugs have become a focus of market investment interest. However, significant differentiation within the sector has raised the investment threshold, making stock selection the core principle for navigating this space. Firstly, the innovative drug segment is a mixed bag: leading companies are achieving doubled performance through successful BD deals and product volume growth, while some generic drug and low-barrier medical consumable companies see profits continually eroded by volume-based procurement policies, and pseudo-innovative firms struggle to benefit from the industry boom. Secondly, the industry exhibits a pronounced "winner-takes-most" effect, with leading companies capturing the majority of industry profits and major BD contracts, making development difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises and rendering a diversified approach ineffective for capturing core returns. Finally, the innovative drug industry is highly sensitive to policy and R&D outcomes; the impacts of volume-based procurement and医保 negotiations vary by company, and with an R&D success rate of less than 10%, pipeline failures can trigger substantial stock price volatility, making the ability to select winners and avoid pitfalls crucial for investment.
For ordinary investors lacking specialized pharmaceutical research capabilities, utilizing actively managed healthcare-themed funds to gain exposure to the innovative drug sector represents an optimal solution for capturing industry gains. Taking the Fullgoal Healthcare Innovation Stock Fund (Class A: 019916, Class C: 019917) as an example, this fund precisely focuses on the theme of pharmaceutical innovation, heavily weighting innovative drugs and their industrial chain, aligning with the investment logic of the License-out surge and the industry's profitability inflection point.
Regarding the investment research team, fund managers Zhao Wei and Wang Chao both have formal academic backgrounds in the healthcare industry. Zhao Wei, with 15 years of experience in the securities industry and over 8 years in investment management, previously participated deeply in innovative drug R&D at GlaxoSmithKline, granting him a profound understanding of the industry's R&D landscape, BD transaction logic, and commercial realization, enabling precise identification of investment opportunities. In terms of performance, the fund delivered impressive results for the full year 2025, with the Class C shares achieving a return of 66.68% and Class A shares achieving 67.7%, both significantly outperforming the 28.14% benchmark and demonstrating substantial alpha generation.
Overall, the investment logic for the domestic innovative drug industry has shifted from the previous model of "betting on pipelines" to one focused on "assessing BD potential and profitability." The sector's long-term growth trend is clear, but it is not a "can't-lose" investment where one can buy blindly. For ordinary investors, under the premise of a long-term holding strategy, selecting an active fund that focuses on the core innovative drug theme and possesses strong investment research capabilities, thereby leveraging professional expertise for stock selection, is the way to better capture the industry's potential.
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