Less than a year after the centralized procurement results were implemented, the human interferon α2b spray produced by Tianjin Weiming Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Tianjin Weiming") was suspended from purchase in some areas.

On March 26, the Tibet Autonomous Region Medical Security Bureau (hereinafter referred to as "Tibet Medical Security Bureau") issued the "Notice on Suspending the Purchase of Human Interferon α2b Spray of Tianjin Weiming Biopharmaceutical Co., Ltd." The content shows that the drug supervision department recently conducted a random inspection of the α2b spray produced by Tianjin Weiming, and the test results were "biological activity does not meet the regulations." In accordance with relevant requirements, it is recommended that medical institutions in the region suspend the purchase of human interferon α2b spray produced by Tianjin Weiming, and the selected enterprises are sealed and recalled, and the resumption time will be notified separately. Based on this, the Tibet Medical Security Bureau issued a document requesting local (municipal) medical security bureaus to notify medical institutions in their jurisdiction to suspend the purchase of Tianjin Weiming interferon α2b spray, and the resumption time will be notified separately.

Coincidentally, on March 13, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region Medical Procurement Center issued a notice stating that according to the announcement of the Jiangxi Provincial Joint Procurement Office, the drug supervision department conducted random inspections on the α2b spray produced by Tianjin Weiming, and the inspection results were "biological activity does not meet the regulations". The trading qualifications of Tianjin Weiming's interferon α2b spray in the region are now suspended.

Industrial and commercial information shows that Tianjin Weiming is a holding subsidiary of Weiming Pharmaceutical (002581.SZ) with a shareholding of approximately 60%. In December 2023, Weiming Pharmaceutical announced that Tianjin Weiming participated in the centralized volume procurement of Jiangxi Provincial Interferon Interprovincial Alliance. The product's revenue in 2022 was approximately 229 million yuan, accounting for approximately 64.27% of Weiming Pharmaceutical's total revenue that year.

On March 8, 2024, Tianjin Weiming Interferon α2b Spray was confirmed as the winning bidder, with a winning price of 33.58 yuan/bottle, and it will be supplied to all alliance areas, including 29 alliance provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities, and military regions), including Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, and Shanxi. The winning results will be implemented from 0:00 on June 1, 2024. It is reported that the inter-provincial alliance procurement of interferon in 29 provinces (autonomous regions, municipalities, and military regions) led by Jiangxi Province is the first special procurement of biological preparations led by local governments, and the average price reduction of the selected varieties is 20.91%.

Regarding the reasons why the sampling results of Tianjin Weiming Interferon α2b Spray did not meet the regulations, the impact of the suspension of procurement, and the company's response measures, the reporter of China Business News called and wrote to Weiming Pharmaceutical, but as of press time, the other party did not respond. As of March 31, Weiming Pharmaceutical has not yet announced the above matters.

The financial report shows that the business segments of Weiming Pharmaceutical include interferon, nerve growth factor, biopharmaceutical CRO/CDMO, vaccines and pharmaceutical intermediates, etc. The core products include nerve growth factor products such as mouse nerve growth factor for injection (trade name: Enjingfu), interferon products such as human interferon α2b injection (trade name: Anfulong) and human interferon α2b spray (trade name: Jiefu, i.e. the selected varieties in the centralized procurement). In the first half of 2024, the revenue of Weiming Pharmaceutical's interferon products accounted for about 67.4%, and the gross profit margin was 81.01%.

According to Weiming Pharmaceutical, Tianjin Weiming's interferon α2b spray products rely on a professional academic promotion model and have established a sales network covering the whole country, which can promptly deliver the clinical research results of product safety and effectiveness to the market. The number of hospital terminals covered continues to expand, and market demand is growing steadily.

The official microblog of Tianjin Economic Development Zone once published an article about Tianjin Weiming interferon α2b spray being shortlisted for centralized procurement, which mentioned: "Yue Jialin, chairman of Weiming Pharmaceutical, said that the company's human interferon α2b spray shortlisted for the inter-provincial alliance centralized procurement is the world's first human interferon spray, filling the gap in the domestic human interferon spray in the antiviral field. The product has been on the market for nearly 20 years, and the safety and effectiveness of the product have been fully verified clinically. The centralized procurement of human interferon α2b spray this time will help reduce the burden of medical expenses for patients and greatly improve the accessibility of medicines."

Tianjin Weiming is also an important non-wholly owned subsidiary of Weiming Pharmaceutical. In the first half of 2024, Tianjin Weiming's revenue was about 142 million yuan and its net profit was about 12.7323 million yuan. During the corresponding period, Weiming Pharmaceutical's revenue was about 210 million yuan and its loss was 29.615 million yuan.

According to the 2024 performance forecast, Weiming Pharmaceutical expects revenue to be between 360 million and 400 million yuan and loss to be between 95 million and 155 million yuan. Weiming Pharmaceutical stated in the announcement that the company's performance loss was mainly due to the company's active marketing and market exploration work, and focused on expanding the layout of new products. Affected by factors such as the external environment and industry policies, the company's main business income has declined; based on the principle of prudence, it is expected that in 2024, a total of 90 million to 115 million yuan will be set aside for impairment of long-term assets, credit impairment of accounts receivable, and inventory depreciation. It is worth noting that Weiming Pharmaceutical has suffered losses for two consecutive years in 2022 and 2023.

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