The hype of "weight loss miracle drug" has been extinguished, and the major shareholder of Sanofi Biologics has launched a reduction plan

The concept of weight loss pills without fundamental support was hyped up and only maintained for a week before being heavily sold off by funds.

On August 17th, San Nuo Bio, which was hyped up as a leading weight-loss drug stock, fell 7.24% and closed at 26.9 yuan. In the past four trading days, the stock has fallen by a cumulative 23.23%, almost giving up all of last week's gains.

The sudden rise in the weight loss drug sector is mainly due to the announcement by US stock weight loss drug company Megglutide manufacturer Novo Nordisk that the positive results of the highly anticipated Phase III trial "SELECT" have exceeded expectations, indicating that the so-called "weight loss miracle drug" Wegovy has a potential role in reducing the risk of serious cardiovascular disease.

After the concept became popular, many A-share listed pharmaceutical companies received inquiries from investors about the business situation of weight loss drugs. Most companies replied that they do not have relevant business or that their products are in the research and development stage.

And the second largest shareholder of Sanofi Biotech, Lepu Medical, which has been hotly speculated, plans to reduce its stake in the company by 2.6%. According to the latest static calculation of the former, the cash amount of Lepu Medical Set is approximately 78.3328 million yuan.

Lepu Medical plans to reduce its 2.6% stake in Sanofi Biotech

On August 9th, there was a sudden change in the concept of weight loss pills, and San Nuo Bio was heavily invested, with a significant increase of 10.93% on the same day; As of August 11th, in just three trading days, Sanofi Biotech has accumulated a significant increase of 42.9 yuan. After a brief surge, since August 14th, San Nuo Bio has been continuously declining, almost giving up all the gains from the previous week. As of the close on August 17th, the stock price of Sanofi Biotech was 26.9 yuan, with a total market value of 3 billion yuan.

San Nuo Biotechnology will be listed on the Science and Technology Innovation Board in 2021, with an issue price of 17.9 yuan per share. On the first day of listing, the stock price of Sanofi Biotech reached its peak at 56.94 yuan. In the following two years, the company's stock price continued to decline, reaching its lowest point of 14.67 yuan in October last year.

Lepu Medical, a medical device stock on the ChiNext board, is the second largest shareholder of Sanofi Biotech. As of the end of the first quarter, Lepu Medical held 6.48 million shares of the company, with a shareholding ratio of 8.1%, all of which were acquired by Sanofi Biotech before its listing.

After the stock price of Sanofi Biotech rose, Lepu Medical released a plan to reduce its holdings. On the evening of the 16th, Sanofi Biotech announced that Lepu Medical plans to reduce its holdings by no more than 2.912 million shares, or 2.6% of the total share capital, from September 7th to December 6th. According to the latest price calculation of Sanofi Biotech, the cash amount for this reduction of holdings is approximately 78.3328 million yuan.

Lepu Medical's stock price and performance have been relatively low this year. Since the beginning of the year, Lepu Medical has experienced a cumulative decline of 15.91%. While underperforming the market, its latest price is 19.03 yuan, a cumulative 58% retracement from the historical high of 45.25 yuan set in 2020.

In the first quarter of this year, Lepu Medical's operating revenue continued to decline, with a year-on-year decrease of 4.4% to 2.437 billion yuan, and a net profit of 562 million yuan after deduction, a year-on-year increase of only 2.78%.

Most listed pharmaceutical companies do not have weight loss drugs

Recently, the attention of GLP-1 hypoglycemic/weight loss drugs represented by Smegglutide has rapidly increased, quickly driving investors to pay attention to peptide related pharmaceutical companies.

The reporter from First Financial News noticed that many investors are paying attention to the research and development progress of domestic pharmaceutical companies' Smegglutide. From the responses of multiple pharmaceutical companies on interactive platforms regarding weight loss medication related products, it can be seen that most pharmaceutical companies do not have relevant products.

Under the influence of emotional boost or news stimulation, the A-share weight-loss drug concept sector is occasionally hotly speculated by funds in the short term. The secondary market is willing to give weight loss "miracle drugs" the most optimistic expectations, but due to insufficient fundamental support, most concept stocks often quickly recoup short-term gains.

Taking San Nuo Biotechnology as an example, the company's profitability significantly declined in the first quarter of this year, achieving a revenue of 81.5166 million yuan, a slight increase of 0.96% year-on-year, a net profit of 14.033 million yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 1.82%, and a net profit of only 6.278 million yuan after deduction, a year-on-year significant decrease of 48.25%.

According to the financial report, Sanofi Biotech's main business is in the peptide pharmaceutical field, with a business model focused on innovative drug CDMO services and generic drugs as the core. As of the end of 2022, the company has a total of 16 independently developed peptide active pharmaceutical ingredients, but does not involve weight loss drugs.

On August 15th, Prolo Pharmaceutical stated on its investor interaction platform that the peptide platform it is building is mainly used for weight loss products, and some protective amino acid products have already been mass-produced; Smegglutide is currently under development. Last weekend, the company announced on the investor interaction platform that the raw material of Smegglutide has completed small-scale development and meets the purity requirement of over 98%; The enlarged production workshop is currently undergoing acceptance inspection, and once completed, the enlarged trial production work can begin; The product quality of Smegglutide and the production capacity of Anqing factory can meet the needs of domestic and foreign customers.

Huadong Pharmaceutical disclosed in its 2023 semi annual report that the GLP-1 product Smegglutide Injection has completed Phase I clinical trials and reached the endpoint of equivalence studies, and Phase III clinical trials have been initiated. However, there has been no significant change in the recent stock price performance of East China Pharmaceutical.

It is reported that the Simeglutide injection applied by East China Medicine is a product developed in cooperation with the joint venture company Chongqing Paijin Biotechnology Co., Ltd. The original manufacturer of Smeaglutide is Novo Nordisk, which is a leading company in the relevant fields of the US stock market. Its products are mainly targeted at diabetes and obesity.

At present, the competition in the research field of Smegglutide in China is fierce, and most leading generic drug companies and medical beauty companies are accelerating their layout of weight loss drug business. According to incomplete statistics by reporters, listed companies in the biopharmaceutical industry such as Xinda Biotechnology, Aimike, Haizheng Pharmaceutical, Hengrui Pharmaceutical, and Fosun Pharmaceutical are all expanding their weight loss drug business.

According to the 2022 annual report of iMeiKe, a medical beauty stock, the company's deoxycholic acid injection project is in the preclinical and research stage. The project is mainly aimed at expanding the company's weight loss product market, increasing product diversity, and optimizing the company's product structure.