EVEREST MED-B: "Dual-Engine Drive + Annual Commercial Profitability" Breakthrough, Aiming to Set a New Benchmark in Biopharma

In recent years, under the opportunity of accelerated reform in the domestic innovative drug market, Everest Med-B (01952) has relied on its strong independent research and development capabilities in innovative drugs and AI pharmaceuticals, supplemented by external licensing and introduction collaborations, to comprehensively accelerate innovation in a "dual-driven" manner, achieving a qualitative leap in innovative development.

The impressive performance of the 2024 financial report not only marks the company's first achievement but also indicates that it is about to enter a new stage of "removing the -B label."

The financial report shows that in 2024, Everest Med achieved an operating income of 707 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 461.16%. According to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange's Listing Rules Article 8.05(3), if a company meets the conditions of "market capitalization of at least HKD 4 billion and revenue of no less than HKD 500 million in the most recent fiscal year," it can remove the "-B" label. Everest Med has clearly met all the criteria, becoming another innovative pharmaceutical company in the Hong Kong stock market moving towards mature Biopharma.

Zhitong Finance APP believes that in recent years, under the "independent research and development + licensing introduction" dual-driven strategy, Everest Med has targeted high-potential, low-competition tracks, quickly achieving efficient commercialization of differentiated innovative results. This is an important reason why Everest Med can swiftly and efficiently reach the 18A "removal of -B" milestone.

Thanks to its unique business insights, Everest Med introduced core products Nanfukang® and Yijia® (Ilaris) in the fields of IgA nephropathy treatment and antibiotics at an early stage at a relatively low cost.

Taking Nanfukang® as an example, last May, under the company's efficient promotion, Nanfukang® was successfully approved for marketing in mainland China and entered the national medical insurance catalog in the same year, allowing this groundbreaking disease-first therapy to benefit a broader patient population domestically; meanwhile, in overseas markets, Nanfukang® obtained new drug marketing approvals in Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and South Korea in 2024. The smooth commercialization both domestically and internationally brought 353 million yuan in sales revenue to the company just seven months after its launch.

With the support of the company's comprehensive commercialization system, the first-in-class fluoroquinolone antibiotic Yijia® also brought considerable commercialization benefits to the company. By deepening penetration into over 300 core hospitals and collaborating with CSOs to benefit patients outside core hospitals, Yijia® achieved sales of 353 million yuan in 2024, a year-on-year increase of 256%.

It is not difficult to see that the large-scale commercialization of the two core products is the key driving force behind Everest Med's "removal of -B." In fact, these two core products have demonstrated the unique business insight value of the company in licensing and introduction, from License-in to successful commercialization and large-scale sales. In the future, the company will continue to improve the innovation closed loop of research, production, and sales under the "independent research and development + licensing introduction" dual-driven strategy, promoting the large-scale commercialization of core products, thereby driving the realization of the company's value in the secondary market.

Taking Iqumod as an example, as a heavyweight product in Everest Med's autoimmune disease pipeline, its expected peak sales may reach 2 billion yuan, and it is expected to become an important pillar in Everest Med's subsequent product line. In April last year, Iqumod was approved in Macau and successfully included in the clinical urgent need drug and medical device catalog for the nine cities in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macau Greater Bay Area through the "Hong Kong-Macau Drug and Medical Device Pass" policy, with the first prescription issued in Guangdong Province in December At the same time, the NMPA accepted the new drug listing application for Iqumod in December, which is expected to be approved in 2026.

In addition to the research and development of the aforementioned core products, Everest Med is also accelerating its expansion into the direction of "AI-driven pharmaceuticals." According to Zhitong Finance APP, Everest Med has achieved an efficiency leap in end-to-end R&D driven by AI in recent years, from target screening and sequence design to delivery optimization. Its self-developed core algorithm "Miaosuan" (EVER-NEO-1) has been validated on human new antigen immunogenicity data. On March 6 of this year, the company's self-developed first AI-driven mRNA personalized tumor vaccine EVM16 completed administration to its first patient, marking its entry into the clinical validation stage of AI innovative drugs as the first stock of "AI + innovative drugs" in the Hong Kong stock market.

Summary

Generally speaking, successfully delisting from the "B" share reflects the market's recognition of the gradually increasing intrinsic value of 18A companies. In recent years, at least 12 18A companies have successfully "delisted from B" and achieved scaled valuation growth after the delisting. Taking Kangfang Biotech as an example, since announcing its "delisting from B" in March 2023, its stock price has increased by as much as 107% to date.

With the continuous advancement of Everest Med's authorized introduction business and the steady development of its "AI + mRNA" business, the company is expected to achieve sustained stock price growth, replicating the successful path of doubling the market value of its previous "delisted from B" 18A peers, becoming a benchmark enterprise in the Hong Kong innovative drug sector. Recently, CICC released a research report indicating that the valuation of the company's R&D drugs has begun to be reflected, thus significantly raising the target price by 133% to HKD 70, maintaining an "outperform industry" rating