On July 15th, Nasdaq listed company Tianjing Biotechnology announced the appointment of Fu Wei as Chairman of the Board of Directors.
For the pharmaceutical industry, the name Fu Wei is not unfamiliar. He is the CEO of CBC Group, a medical asset management company, also known as Kangqiao Capital. At the same time, he is also the founding and largest shareholder of Tianjing Biotechnology, and has been a member of Tianjing Biotechnology's board of directors since June 2018.
From this perspective, Fu Wei is finally going to personally take over the operation now.
In the past cycle of innovative drug capital dividends, Tianjing Biotechnology was once one of the most highly regarded companies in the industry, and Kangqiao Capital also gained a great reputation. However, after losing the support of the times, the situation of celestial creatures is not optimistic.
On February 7th of this year, Tianjing Biotechnology announced the divestment of its assets in China - Tianjing Biotechnology's Chinese subsidiary and Tianjing Biotechnology (Hangzhou) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Tianjing (Hangzhou)") reached an agreement to transfer Tianjing Biotechnology's assets and operating rights in China, which will be operated by Tianjing (Hangzhou) in the future. Tianjing (Hangzhou) will be an unconsolidated subsidiary of Tianjing Biotechnology.
At that time, regarding the aforementioned changes in the company, Tianjing Biotechnology had told Interface News reporters that this was a strategic restructuring. In the future, the listed company, I-Mab, would develop along the path of American biotech companies, while Tianjing Biotechnology (Hangzhou) would develop along the path of Chinese biotech companies, achieving maximum value for both parties without constraining each other; At the same time, the investor structure is more in line with their respective markets and better avoids investment risks in Chinese concept stocks, which is conducive to the valuation return of listed companies.
However, in the past six months of attempting to split the company in half and expecting a return in valuation, the market value of Tianjing Biotechnology has continued to decline.
In early February, the stock price of Tianjing Biotechnology was $2 per share, with a market value of $165 million. However, currently, the company's stock price has dropped to $1.63 per share, with a market value of only $130 million. In the past, the highest market value of this company exceeded 7 billion US dollars.
Before Fu Wei personally became the chairman, Zang Jingwu was the chairman of Tianjing Biotechnology. However, after the divestment of Chinese assets in February this year, Zang Jingwu immediately resigned from the board of directors of Tianjing Biotechnology and announced his leadership of Tianjing (Hangzhou) Company at the same time. That is to say, in February of this year, Tianjing Biology had already completed the "De Zang Jing Wu Hua".
At that time, Tianjing Biotechnology also announced a series of executive changes, including Pamela Klein being appointed as interim chairman of the company, Andrew Zhu resigning from the board of directors and executive positions, Joseph Skelton being appointed as CEO and CFO to replace Richard Yeh, and Richard Yeh resigning from the board of directors and executive positions.
Compared to February, Fu Wei's current personal appearance undoubtedly declares once again that as a listed company, Tianjing Biotechnology will completely bid farewell to the past. At present, the official website of Tianjing Biotechnology no longer displays the product development progress of its former Chinese assets.
However, this has actually created new problems. On the one hand, the market image and situation of Tianjing Biotechnology today are difficult to separate from the various difficulties during Zang Jingwu's tenure, and it cannot be expected that the company's rebirth can be achieved solely by replacing the chairman. On the other hand, as a pharmaceutical company, Tianjing Biotechnology's pipeline is already "poor and white", which is also difficult to help the company regain trust.
Zang Jingwu is the founder of Tianjing Biotechnology, but the topic focused on him is not honorable - on June 11, 2013, the internationally renowned pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) issued a statement admitting that the Chinese research and development center had previously engaged in data fraud. At that time, Zang Jingwu was the head of GSK China R&D center. Subsequently, GSK officials announced, "Dr. Zang Jingwu is no longer working at GSK
After leaving GSK, Zang Jingwu went to Xiansheng Pharmaceutical and had the opportunity to start a business after being responsible for the innovative drug platform Baijiahui of Xiansheng Pharmaceutical. In 2015, Zang Jingwu founded Sanjing Biology, which is the predecessor of Tianjing Biology.
Afterwards, with the help of Kangqiao Capital, Three Realms and Tian Shi Zhen merged to form Tian Realms. Prior to its IPO plan of "A+H+N" in 2021, Tianjing Biotechnology had already raised over $500 million in medical, health, and biotechnology capital from China and around the world, equivalent to approximately RMB 3.23 billion at that time.
During Zang Jingwu's tenure, the CD47 product that Tianjing Biotechnology had originally bet on suffered a setback. And the authorization cooperation (BD) that once brought glory to enterprises has also suffered successive defeats.
In September 2023, Tianjing Biological's Leflunomib was returned by AbbVie. As a potential cooperation with a cumulative revenue of up to 2.9 billion US dollars, Leflunomib was one of the largest external authorization collaborations announced by Chinese biotechnology companies at that time.
Moreover, on July 8, 2022, MacroGenics announced on its official website that it would terminate the phase 2 clinical trial of the B7-H3 monoclonal antibody Ibrutide monoclonal antibody (CP-MGA271-06).
On July 11, 2019, Tianjing Biotechnology reached a cooperation agreement with Macro Genics with a down payment of 15 million US dollars, potential development and registration milestone payments of no more than 135 million US dollars, and annual net sales revenue sharing, obtaining exclusive clinical development and sales rights for Ibrutumab in the Greater China region and participating in global clinical research and development led by MacroGenic.
On July 13, 2022, Tianjing Biotechnology responded to Interface News reporters by stating that Tianjing Biotechnology is not the sponsor of the aforementioned clinical trial, and no Chinese patients have participated in this trial.
In terms of products, after divesting two core varieties, the listed company Tianjing Biotechnology actually only has CD47 Leflunomib, CD73 Yulerinomib, and two bispecific antibodies that have been returned.
After the setback, the official website of Tianjing Biology no longer displays CD47 letzolizumab. As of July this year, the company's official website shows that its core pipelines are Uliledlimab (Yuliledlimab, CD73 antibody), Givasomig (Claudin 18.2 x 4-1BB bispecific antibody), and Ragistomig (PD-L1 x 4-1BB bispecific antibody).
In terms of product progress, in April 2023, Tianjing Biotechnology announced that the first patient administration of the Chinese Phase III registered clinical trial (NCT05709093) of CD47 antibody combined with azacitidine for the treatment of HR-MDS (higher risk myelodysplastic syndrome) had been completed. In early March of this year, the company announced the launch of a Phase 2/3 clinical trial of CD73 Yulelimab injection for first-line treatment of advanced non-small cell lung cancer.
At present, CD47 Leflunomib and CD73 Yulelimab are the products developed by Tianjing Biotechnology with relatively fast progress. In addition, in June of this year, Tianjing Biotechnology announced a partnership with Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) to evaluate the combination of Givasomig (Claudin 18.2 x 4-1BB bispecific antibody) and nivolumab with chemotherapy for the treatment of gastric and esophageal cancer. However, whether it is CD47, CD73, or bispecific antibodies, there are many cases of failed development of these products, and there may be many setbacks to be experienced in the future.
From this, it can be inferred that there are still too many variables to determine whether the celestial creatures can welcome a new life after Fu Jue takes on the big responsibility.