Analysis of the first order of the "fifth set" of the Sci-Tech Innovation Board: TaiNuoMaiBo's core drug just launched faces competitors offering "50% off"?

Following the reaffirmation of policies allowing unprofitable companies to apply for listing on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board under the fifth set of standards, the first case has finally emerged in the acceptance phase.

On July 31, the Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted the IPO application of Zhuhai Tainuo Maibo Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tainuo Maibo") under the fifth set of standards.

This comes more than two years after the Shanghai Stock Exchange last accepted an IPO project under the fifth set of standards.

In terms of performance, Tainuo Maibo has only sporadic revenue from technology transfer and other businesses.

From 2022 to 2024, Tainuo Maibo's revenues were 4.3398 million yuan, 0 yuan, and 15.0559 million yuan, respectively, while net losses during the same period were 429 million yuan, 446 million yuan, and 515 million yuan, totaling over 1.4 billion yuan in losses.

Tainuo Maibo's core drugs currently include the recombinant anti-tetanus toxin monoclonal antibody drug Staituotai Monoclonal Injection (hereinafter referred to as "New Tituo") and the recombinant anti-respiratory syncytial virus monoclonal antibody TNM001 (hereinafter referred to as "TNM001").

Among them, New Tituo has been approved for market launch, while TNM001 is currently undergoing Phase III clinical trials.

Given this, although Tainuo Maibo's current revenue is only over ten million yuan, the moment for commercial success is approaching.

However, due to the competitive procurement price of New Tituo's competitors being less than 200 yuan, which is over a 50% decrease from pre-procurement prices, the terminal price is facing certain challenges.

It is worth mentioning that Tainuo Maibo has a strong lineup of shareholders, including Hillhouse Capital, Bank of China Investment, and Kangzhi Venture Capital.

For this IPO, Tainuo Maibo plans to raise 1.5 billion yuan, which will be used for new drug research and development, expansion of antibody production bases, and to supplement working capital.

Competitors Only Cost Hundreds

Looking back, it has been more than two years since the last acceptance of a project under the fifth set of standards on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board.

In April 2023, the Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted the IPO application of Shanghai Aike Baifa Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd. under the fifth set of standards. However, due to significant market doubts raised by the similarly listed Zhixiang Jintai-U (688443.SH), the progress of such projects came to a halt.

Some innovative pharmaceutical companies planning to list on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board have turned to the Hong Kong stock market.

For example, Beijing Xiantong International Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. had initiated IPO counseling for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board in February 2023 but has now started the IPO application for the Hong Kong stock market.

Until June of this year, the China Securities Regulatory Commission issued the "Opinions on Setting Up a Sci-Tech Growth Tier on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board to Enhance Institutional Inclusiveness and Adaptability," clearly restarting the application for unprofitable companies to list under the fifth set of standards, launching a package of more inclusive and adaptable institutional reforms.

Subsequently, Wuhan Heyuan Biotechnology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Heyuan Biotechnology"), which had been waiting for over two years in the inquiry phase, received registration approval, becoming the first fifth set standard IPO project to be released.

With Tainuo Maibo's IPO on the Sci-Tech Innovation Board being accepted, it further injects confidence into the market.

One of Tainuo Maibo's core drugs is New Tituo, which was approved for market launch in February this year.

New Tituo is primarily used for emergency prevention of tetanus after exposure to trauma and is the world's first recombinant anti-tetanus toxin monoclonal antibody drug The significant breakthrough of this drug lies in its potential to reduce dependence on human blood products for passive immunity against tetanus.

Before the launch of New Tizhu, patients primarily relied on passive immune preparations such as tetanus human immunoglobulin HTIG, which need to be extracted from human blood. However, blood products are relatively scarce in China.

Since 2001, China has not approved new blood product companies, and there is total control over the approval of new plasma stations, resulting in limited production of blood products like tetanus human immunoglobulin.

This has drawn attention to the commercialization prospects of New Tizhu.

Due to its short time on the market, the sales revenue of New Tizhu was only 169,300 yuan in March 2025.

In terms of terminal pricing, New Tizhu, which has not yet entered the medical insurance catalog, lacks a price advantage compared to its competitor, tetanus human immunoglobulin.

According to Zhao Wengui, Vice President of the Greater China Marketing Center at Tainuo Maibo, the terminal market price of New Tizhu is 798 yuan per injection.

However, in some regions, the centralized procurement price of tetanus human immunoglobulin has dropped to the hundred-yuan level.

In March of this year, the price of tetanus human immunoglobulin in Jiangsu Province's fifth round of centralized procurement fell from 330 yuan per injection to 148 yuan per injection, a decrease of up to 55%.

This may put more pressure on New Tizhu, which has not yet entered the medical insurance catalog.

To address this, Tainuo Maibo is pushing for New Tizhu to be included in the medical insurance catalog.

"This innovative drug is expected to be included in the national medical insurance catalog by 2026, allowing more patients to benefit at a lower price," Zhao Wengui stated.

Despite facing certain price reduction pressures, Tainuo Maibo may be able to achieve commercialization to some extent through a "price-for-volume" strategy, as the supply of New Tizhu is not limited by the production of blood products.

Although New Tizhu is in its early stages of market entry, Tainuo Maibo has incurred significant sales expenses, reaching 24 million yuan in the first quarter of 2025 alone.

The main expenditure of this cost is concentrated on employee compensation, which reached 16.6824 million yuan during the same period, accounting for nearly 70% of sales expenses.

In response, Tainuo Maibo explained: "The company is gradually building a commercial sales team, and as the number of sales personnel increases, the amount of employee compensation correspondingly rises."

As of the end of March this year, Tainuo Maibo's total number of sales employees reached 350, accounting for nearly 50% of the total workforce.

Dual Core Application

Another core drug of Tainuo Maibo is TNM001, which is currently in phase 3 clinical trials.

TNM001 is primarily used for the prevention of lower respiratory tract diseases caused by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants and young children and is a long-acting monoclonal antibody for RSV prevention.

The RSV disease field has broad market prospects.

As a common respiratory virus, RSV often causes pneumonia and bronchitis in infants and the elderly, with a basic reproduction number (R0) reaching 4.5.

Zhuoshi Consulting estimates that the global RSV market (including therapeutic drugs and vaccines) will reach $12.8 billion by 2030.

The competition for this drug is quite fierce.

For example, long-acting monoclonal antibody drugs for RSV prevention include Nirsevimab, jointly developed by Sanofi and AstraZeneca, and Clesrovimab from Merck, both of which have been launched in the U.S Nisavaccine monoclonal antibody was approved for listing in China last year, while Clesrovimab is in the listing application stage with the drug regulatory authority.

Due to the certain exclusivity of Nisavaccine monoclonal antibody in the domestic market, the terminal price is relatively high— in the 2024 group procurement of non-immunization planning vaccines in Shanghai, the selected prices for the 0.5ml and 1ml models can reach 1869 yuan per dose and 3177 yuan per dose, respectively.

TNM001 faces competition beyond this.

For example, Pfizer's RSV vaccine Abrysvo, although not directly targeting the infant population, employs a preventive logic by vaccinating pregnant women, allowing mothers to produce antibodies and pass them to the fetus, which can also achieve a preventive effect against RSV. It is currently still in the clinical stage in China.

However, overall, the progress of the two core drugs from Tainuo Maibo is relatively fast, exceeding the requirements of the fifth set of listing standards, which indicates that the commercialization prospects are more certain.

According to the arrangements of the fifth set of standards, one of the conditions that the issuer needs to meet is "at least one core product has been approved to carry out phase II clinical trials."

Previously, many innovative drug companies mainly chose to apply for an IPO after completing phase II clinical trials. For example, when Heyuan Biotechnology applied for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board IPO at the end of 2022, its core product, plant-derived recombinant human serum albumin injection, had just completed phase II clinical trials.

"Many companies previously tended to apply for an IPO after phase II of their core drugs, which is indeed a good and safe timing point. Because after going through the IPO process, the drug may just be launched before the listing, making it a good time for fundraising and expanding production." pointed out an investment banker in Beijing.

The individual further noted: "If applying for an IPO is stuck at the initial stage of drug listing, the effectiveness of commercialization will be quickly verified. If sales are good, it will greatly boost the IPO, and the valuation will rise. However, if sales are poor, it may also affect the IPO process, leading to more skepticism."

As the first IPO project accepted after the restart of the fifth set, the current progress of Tainuo Maibo's pipeline may be providing more references for later entrants