**: Straight through IPO, Wen Han Wenjing
In the capital market, there may be a monkey-related company.
Recently, the official website of the China Securities Regulatory Commission disclosed that Hubei Tianqin Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianqin Biotechnology") was listed for the record, and the counseling agency was CITIC ** Shares, and the dispatched agency was the Hubei Securities Regulatory Bureau.
According to the official website, Tianqin Biotech, founded in 2009 and headquartered in Wuhan, Hubei Province, is a CRO high-tech enterprise featuring large animal testing and focusing on new drug research and evaluation. The company has a laboratory animal breeding research center, specializing in raising and breeding experimental non-human primates, including rhesus macaques, cynomolgus monkeys, marmosets, guinea tail monkeys and so on.
Since the second half of last year, the first class of experimental monkeys has gradually annealed, and the once hot CRO track has also begun to continue to cool down.
According to public information, Ren Xidong, the founder of Tianqin Biotechnology, studied clinical nutrition at Wuhan University and has been working in Zhongnan Hospital since graduation.
In 2009, relying on the technical support of Wuhan University, Huazhong Agricultural University, Hubei Wildlife Conservation Research Institute and China Pharmaceutical University, Tianqin Biotech was formally established as a collaborative R&D platform.
Before the establishment of the company, the main work was the construction of the experimental macaque breeding research base, laying the foundation for the normal breeding research of experimental macaques, and later the company also began to enter the research institutions and drug evaluation institutions.
Ren Xidong once said, "The launch of a new drug has to go through a long period of important stages such as basic research, applied research, sample trial production, efficacy, pharmacokinetic evaluation, preclinical safety evaluation, and clinical experiments. In the whole R&D process, except for clinical experiments, all are closely related to animal experiments, and it can be said that animal experiments are the only way to develop new drugs. ”
At present, Tianqin Biopharma's services cover non-human primate laboratory animal breeding, human disease animal model construction and pharmacodynamic evaluation, pharmacokinetic research evaluation, drug toxicity research and safety evaluation, bioanalysis, molecular imaging detection and analysis, medical device testing and other fields.
Under the background of the continuous heating up of new drug research and development, the rapid development of pharmaceutical-related industrial chains, as the upstream of supporting services, the laboratory animal industry is becoming more and more hot, and Tianqin Biotech has begun to receive more attention from capital.
From 2016 to 2023, Tianqin Biotech has completed more than 10 rounds of financing, with investors including Industrial Guosen Asset Management, Shenzhen Venture Capital, CMB International Capital, Jiutong Investment, Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, Zhongguancun Collaborative Innovation**, etc.
Among them, in May 2020, Tianqin Biotech completed a strategic financing of nearly 100 million yuan, and the investors are Huafang Capital, Yifeng Capital, Zhongguancun Collaborative Innovation**, Qianhai Hopu, Wuhan Institute of Biotechnology, and Zhongguancun Zhongnuo**.
The most recent financing was in January 2023, when Tianqin Biotech completed a Series F financing led by Hillhouse Capital, the specific amount was not disclosed.
In terms of cooperation projects, last year, Tianqin Biotech helped a number of pharmaceutical companies to be approved for clinical trials. In June 2023, Tianqin Biotech assisted Tasly's "Antiwei Granules" to be approved for clinical trial; In August 2023, Tianqin Biopharma assisted Gan & Lee Pharmaceutical's first monoclonal antibody biosimilar, GLR1023 injection (secukinumab), to be approved for clinical trial; In September 2023, Tianqin Biopharma assisted Innovent Biologics in obtaining clinical trial approval for CD40L antibody IBI355.
In December 2023, Tianqin Biotech assisted Hanyu Pharmaceutical's "Semaglutide Injection" to obtain clinical approval. Among them, Tianqin Biotech Wuhan Branch (Safety Assessment Center), as a partner of the "Semaglutide Injection" project, has carried out a full set of efficacy, pharmacokinetic and toxicological tests for the drug characteristics and application requirements of "Semaglutide Injection".
Tianyancha's shareholding structure chain shows that at present, Hubei Tianqin Heli Holdings holds 28 of Tianqin Biotechnology63,400% of the shares, the controlling shareholder.
In addition, Zhaoying Tengkang Kangjian (Hubei) Revitalization Equity Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership), Hubei Puyu Enterprise Management Center (Limited Partnership), Shenzhen Yifeng Ruisi Venture Capital Partnership (Limited Partnership), Beijing Xingtou Preferred Venture Capital** (Limited Partnership), Wuhan Ronghe Technology Capital Management Co., Ltd. Suzhou Hillhouse Qirui Medical and Health Industry Investment Partnership (Limited Partnership) respectively hold shares6259%。
In pharmaceutical research and development, laboratory animals are an important medical strategic resource and an indispensable existence. Among them, as the closest non-human primate experimental animal to humans, the laboratory monkey has made an "indispensable contribution" in the research and development of new drugs.
Since 2020, the unit price of large model animals such as laboratory monkeys and experimental dogs has increased several times, and it is even "difficult to find a monkey" in the industry. In 2022, entries such as "experimental monkey** soaring" and "many leading pharmaceutical companies are crazy hoarding monkeys" will appear on the hot search, taking cynomolgus monkeys as an example, the unit price was less than 10,000 before, but the unit price has skyrocketed to more than 100,000 that year.
The country has also set off an arms race of laboratory animals. In April 2022, Zhaoyan New Drug was launched with 180.5 billion yuan **, bought Guangxi Weimei Biology and Yunnan Yingmao Biology two monkey farms. WuXi AppTec made an early move, and in November 2019, WuXi AppTec's subsidiary won 80.4 billion yuan for the acquisition of 100% equity of Suzhou Kanglu Biology to obtain macaque and cynomolgus monkey resources.
In the primary market, experimental animals were "robbed" by VC.
In April 2022, Zhuokai Biotech announced the completion of tens of millions of yuan in Series B+ financing, which was exclusively invested by Legend Capital. Zhuokai Biotech is committed to the development of model animals and related drugs for psychiatric diseases, and the company has an experimental area of 1,200 square meters, including a Drosophila olfactory learning and memory evaluation platform and an SPF-level transgenic mouse experimental platform.
In the same month, Lingfu Biotech also completed a pre-A round of financing of more than 200 million yuan, and the company laid out the Yangtze River Delta experimental marmoset resource base, Hainan experimental cynomolgus monkey and small pig animal resource base.
Related companies have even begun to hit the secondary market. In September 2023, Shanghai Innostar Biotechnology Co., Ltd. was approved, the company is a comprehensive research and development service (CRO) enterprise specializing in providing biomedical non-clinical research services, and experimental monkeys are the main raw materials for Innosys' business.
In fact, entering 2023, the ** of experimental monkeys has a tendency to gradually anneal.
During the sprint to the IPO, the Shanghai Stock Exchange conducted two rounds of inquiries on the changes in the fair value of its experimental monkeys and their biological assets. Innosys said that in the first half of 2023, the experimental monkey** entered a relatively stable and slightly fluctuating state after retreating from the high point at the beginning of 2023.
On February 5, 2024, the Shanghai Stock Exchange announced that the Shanghai Stock Exchange terminated its issuance and listing review due to the withdrawal of the application for issuance and listing of PharmaLegacy Biomedical Technology (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "PharmaLegacy Biologics") and its sponsor. The company has purchased rats and monkeys for experiments on a large scale. As monkey prices fall, these experimental monkeys may become a heavy burden for PharmaLeg.
Nowadays, the CRO pharmaceutical market bids farewell to the irrational "fanatical model" of the past and turns to a more rational development model.