SHANGHAI, March 25 (Reuters) – Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, China’s biggest drugmaker by market value, reported fourth-quarter profit below market expectations on Wednesday, as income from business development deals has failed to appear.
The specialist in oncology, neurology, immunology, respiratory, metabolic and cardiovascular drugs has expanded licensing deals and developed more innovative drugs amid Beijing’s centralised bulk buying programmes, which have squeezed generic drug revenues.
In September, Hengrui agreed to grant a paid licence for its innovative cancer drug, trastuzumab rezetecan, to the Swiss arm of India’s Glenmark Pharmaceuticals, with an upfront payment of $18 million under the deal.
The deal was a part of a string of new licensing agreements earlier last year with overseas drugmakers such as Merck and Britain’s GSK.
Hengrui’s revenue from innovative drug sales increased 26.09% in 2025 but revenue from generic drug slipped, it said in its annual report.
The company recorded 1.96 billion yuan ($284.10 million) in net profit attributable to shareholders for the quarter ended December 31, its annual report showed, below HSBC Qianhai Securities analysts’ estimate of 2.7 billion yuan.
Net profit for the entire 2025 rose 21.69% to 7.71 billion yuan.
($1 = 6.8989 Chinese yuan renminbi)
(Reporting by Andrew Silver, Editing by Louise Heavens)
