A single ointment that has not yet entered clinical trials has managed to ignite the enthusiasm of investors. Since the beginning of the year, the stock price of "Northeast Pharma Darling" Changchun High-Tech Industry (Group) Co.,Ltd. (000661.SZ) has staged a notable upward trend—starting from January 5th and continuing until January 12th, when it saw an intraday amplitude of 9.35%, ultimately closing up 5.79%. Behind this stock price movement was an announcement issued by Changchun High-Tech in late December 2025 regarding the acceptance of a drug's registration for clinical trials. This drug, GenSci141 ointment, developed by the company's subsidiary Jinsai Pharmaceutical, is dubbed a "miracle drug" by the market because its indication directly targets the unique and sensitive area of "improving micropenis in children." Although Changchun High-Tech's stock price turned downward again starting January 13th, it did not fall back to its pre-rally level. Furthermore, it's worth noting that a nearly 10-billion-yuan exclusive licensing agreement with the US company Yarrow, also announced in December 2025, had only managed to sustain the stock's rise for a single day. The sustained multi-day rally triggered by the "miracle drug" instantly rekindled investors' memories, evoking a familiar narrative. In the past, Changchun High-Tech had created a wealth legend lasting over a decade precisely by capitalizing on a growth hormone that addressed children's "height anxiety." Now, does this new ointment, targeting another hidden "growth anxiety," signal the beginning of another legendary tale? As of the market close on January 22nd, Changchun High-Tech's stock price fell 0.19% to 97.50 yuan per share, with a total market capitalization of 39.77 billion yuan.
A new drug that hasn't even entered clinical trials is sparking investors' imaginations. On December 27, 2025, Changchun High-Tech announced that the application for the registrational clinical trial of an ointment numbered GenSci141, developed by its subsidiary Jinsai Pharmaceutical, had been accepted by the National Medical Products Administration (NMPA). So, what exactly is this drug? According to the official announcement, GenSci141 ointment is a modified topical hormonal ointment intended for treating micropenis in children. It aims to provide a new treatment option for affected children whose condition stems from issues with the androgen signaling pathway, using a relatively precise and convenient localized administration method. It is precisely this unique positioning that instantly captured the imagination of secondary market investors. On investor forums and communication platforms, discussions among netizens were fervent and full of "anticipation": on one hand, its topical formulation is easy to use, suggesting a potential consumer goods promotion strategy; on the other hand, a more provocative speculation is the "theoretical" possibility of expanding the drug's user base in the future. However, according to reports from the specialized pharmaceutical media "Thumb Pharma Strategy," micropenis in children is actually quite rare, with a US incidence rate of approximately 1.5 per 10,000. Citing a paper from the 2022, Issue 6 of the *Chinese Journal of Endocrine Surgery*, it states that micropenis refers to a stretched penile length that is 2.5 standard deviations below the average for peers of the same age, with a reported prevalence of 0.14% among boys aged 4-12 in Zhengzhou, China. Nevertheless, the core of investors' current anticipation lies in seeing a business logic highly reminiscent of Changchun High-Tech's own origin story. In the past, Jinsai Pharmaceutical precisely targeted childhood short stature, which also has a relatively low incidence rate (about 3 per 10,000). Through precise channel development and powerful market education, it successfully transformed "height anxiety" into a business generating annual sales exceeding ten billion yuan.
Now, GenSci141 targets another area related to child development—one that is difficult to discuss openly yet equally capable of triggering deep anxiety among parents. The market can't help but wonder: Is Changchun High-Tech planning to replicate the "hormone legend" playbook it knows best, once again working its commercialization magic to turn stone into gold in a brand-new field? However, on one hand, the GenSci141 ointment has currently only had its clinical trial application accepted. This means the NMPA has agreed it can proceed to formal human clinical trials to verify its safety and efficacy. There remains a long path of research, development, and regulatory review before it can ultimately be marketed, and significant uncertainties exist. On the other hand, this surge of optimism and expectation starkly contrasts with the严峻 challenges facing the company's current fundamentals and reveals investors' intense craving for a new growth narrative.
The luster of the "Hormone Legend" is fading, while the second growth engine has fizzled. Changchun High-Tech's past glory is deeply intertwined with "growth hormone." In 1997, Changchun High-Tech co-founded Jinsai Pharmaceutical with Dr. Jin Lei, a medicinal chemist returning from abroad. By being the first to achieve domestic production and subsequently launching the world's first long-acting formulation, "Jinsaizeng," the company established a near-monopolistic market position. This drove over a decade of rapid growth in both performance and stock price, with its market capitalization once exceeding 210 billion yuan, creating the wealth legend of "an aunt turning 50,000 yuan into 5 million." However, since growth hormone was included in the Guangdong Alliance centralized procurement program in 2022, the foundation of the company's growth began to crumble. Bulk procurement led to significant price reductions for its products. More严峻ly, the competitive landscape of the industry was fundamentally altered—long-acting growth hormone products from competitors like Xiamen Amoytop Biotech Co.,Ltd. (688278.SH), Anhui Anke Biotechnology(Group)Co.,Ltd. (300009.SZ), and even the multinational giant Novo Nordisk were successively approved or filed for market approval. Simultaneously, the declining birth rate led to a shrinking potential customer base, further squeezing the market space. Under these multiple pressures, Changchun High-Tech's "cash cow" has been steadily weakening. In 2024, the company's revenue experienced its first negative growth in nearly two decades, with net profit attributable to shareholders plummeting 43.01% year-on-year; for the first three quarters of 2025, net profit fell 58.23% year-on-year, with a staggering 82.98% decline in the third quarter alone.
With its main business faltering, the market had pinned its hopes on Changchun High-Tech's second growth curve—the vaccine business. The shingles vaccine from its subsidiary Baike Bio had been highly anticipated in 2023. But this curve failed to materialize. Due to insufficient public awareness, high out-of-pocket costs, and fierce competition from international players like GlaxoSmithKline PLC (GSK) with technologically superior products, Baike Bio's performance has been weak. In the first three quarters of 2025, its revenue decreased by 53.76% year-on-year, resulting in a net loss attributable to shareholders of 158 million yuan. Recently, Baike Bio announced that, affected by factors including intensified industry competition, low public vaccination willingness, and the declining newborn birth rate, it expects a full-year 2025 net loss attributable to shareholders in the range of 220 million to 280 million yuan. Not only that, but Changchun High-Tech's profit statement is being eroded by rising expenses. In the first three quarters of 2025, the company's total expenses for sales, management, and R&D reached 6.531 billion yuan, a 17.44% increase year-on-year. Of this, sales expenses amounted to 3.764 billion yuan, while R&D expenses reached 1.733 billion yuan, used to support a substantial pipeline of innovative drugs. With growth on the revenue side remaining weak, the rigid growth on the expense side caused the company's net profit margin to drop from 28.13% in the same period of 2024 to 10.81% in the first three quarters of 2025. As of the market close on December 31, 2025, Changchun High-Tech's stock price settled at 92.55 yuan per share, marking a full-year 2025 decline of 4.43%. This represented the fifth consecutive year of decline for the stock, with its total market capitalization having shrunk by over 80% cumulatively.
Can the "Northeast Pharma Darling" replicate its "Hormone Legend"? Changchun High-Tech made a key personnel adjustment in 2024: Jin Lei was appointed as the Group's General Manager in September of that year. Jin Lei is the aforementioned co-founder of Jinsai Pharmaceutical and the technical mastermind behind the localization of growth hormone. His return to a top leadership role was interpreted by the market as the "core returning to its position" during a critical time, signaling an unprecedented shift in operational and R&D focus towards an innovative drug strategy. Regarding the progress of this transformation towards innovative drugs, Changchun High-Tech's management provided expectations during the 2025 interim results briefing: for 2025, combined revenue from innovative drug products and overseas licensing is expected to exceed 1 billion yuan; this is projected to increase further to 1.5 billion yuan in 2026; by 2027, revenue from non-growth hormone businesses is expected to surpass that of the traditional growth hormone business for the first time. Against this backdrop, even as net profit declined sharply, Changchun High-Tech continued to ramp up its R&D investment, which reached 1.335 billion yuan in the first half of 2025, a year-on-year increase of 17.32%.
What is the quality of this heavily invested pipeline? Key launched drug: The gout innovative drug "Jinbeixin" (Fuxinqi Baidankang), approved in 2025, has been a major focus. It is not only Changchun High-Tech's first non-growth hormone innovative drug but also the first domestically developed and second globally approved IL-1β monoclonal antibody for this indication. However, the market perceives a ceiling for Jinbeixin, given that the global gout drug market is only about $3.3 billion, and it also faces intense competition from existing, established medications, posing challenges to its sales ramp-up. Changchun High-Tech also has several innovative pipeline candidates that have entered Phase III clinical trials. These include Jintuoxi Monoclonal Antibody, primarily for advanced gastric or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma; a leuprorelin injection emulsion, a GnRH agonist; Recombinant Human Follicle-Stimulating Hormone-CTP Fusion Protein Injection (GenSci094) for assisted reproduction; and GenSci074, an NK3R antagonist targeting moderate-to-severe vasomotor symptoms (hot flashes) associated with menopause. According to commentary from "Jinduan's" pharmaceutical industry research platform "Yiyao," from a realistic perspective, while its core pipeline assets in Phase III and the approval stage possess commercial potential, most belong to the category of improved innovation or introduced and optimized varieties. Their technological originality may not yet reach globally leading standards. These pipelines can serve adequately as "cash flow" to maintain operational stability during the decline in growth hormone revenue. However, their technical barriers and long-term exclusivity might be relatively limited, making it difficult for them to support the grand vision of becoming a world-class innovative pharmaceutical company. Viewed this way, Changchun High-Tech's true long-term bets likely lie with early-stage pipeline assets like the GenSci141 ointment. But replicating the success of a "blockbuster" drug presents enormous challenges. Yuan Shuai, Co-founder and Initiator of the Xinzhipai New Quality Productivity Salon, stated that as Changchun High-Tech attempts to break through the growth hormone bottleneck via internationalization and diversification of innovative drugs, it faces uncertainties spanning the entire chain from R&D and market access to policy and management. "First, the high risk associated with innovative drug R&D is the core challenge. Drug R&D follows the 'double ten' rule, and clinical success rates are below 10%. Furthermore, the complex barriers of international markets far exceed expectations, potential pressures from the original core business might constrain investment in new ventures, and the capabilities required for diversified management will also encounter boundary challenges," Yuan Shuai commented. Changchun High-Tech is engaged in a race: the speed of its innovative drug R&D and commercialization must outpace the rate of decline in its core business—the growth hormone segment. To support this race, Changchun High-Tech is actively pursuing a listing on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, aiming to raise funds to alleviate cash flow pressure and build an international platform. However, whether the capital market will still buy into this "old story" remains an open question. Finally, when discussing "replicating the hormone legend," Changchun High-Tech cannot avoid its history of employing aggressive commercialization tactics that sometimes operated in grey areas. According to an in-depth investigative report published by *China Business Journal* on July 6, 2019, Jinsai Pharmaceutical, in order to bypass public hospital restrictions on drug specifications and maximize sales scale, "pioneered" a unique model described as "prescriptions from large hospitals, medication pickup at partner clinics." This model was recognized in a judicial ruling by the Jinan Intermediate People's Court in Shandong Province as "utilizing hospital prescription rights for disguised sales, using legal forms to conceal illegal purposes, and violating the 'Anti-Doping Regulations'." While these commercialization tactics achieved short-term sales miracles, they also planted long-term seeds of compliance and reputational risk for the company. In today's healthcare environment, which emphasizes strong regulation and strict compliance, such a path is at the very least unlikely, and certainly not permitted, to be replicated. Are you still optimistic about Changchun High-Tech? Feel free to share your comments.
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