Million-yuan annual salary can't retain the Secretary to the Board; foreign shareholders are busy cashing out. What's going on with Baili Tianheng? | Xiao K Looks at the Company

Ask AI · After the renewal of the Secretary of the Board, the rapid resignation faces what challenges in the company’s talent strategy?

“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” April 3rd (Reporter Shi Shiyun) Recently, Baili Tiangeng (688506.SH) disclosed that the company’s second-largest shareholder, and the only foreign shareholder among its top 10 shareholders, OAP III (HK) Limited (referred to as Aobo Capital), has completed its reduction holdings. From February 9, 2026, to March 30, 2026, Aobo Capital reduced 4.1287 million shares through competitive trading, accounting for 1.00% of the total share capital, cashing out approximately 1.13B yuan.

Image | Shareholding situation of Baili Tiangeng’s top ten shareholders before Aobo Capital’s reduction

After completing this round of reduction, Aobo Capital’s shareholding ratio in Baili Tiangeng decreased from 6.91% to 5.91%, remaining the second-largest shareholder, and this is also its first reduction.

The stocks reduced by Aobo Capital are shares obtained before Baili Tiangeng’s listing, which were lifted restrictions and listed for trading on January 8, 2024. The announcement shows that the reason for Aobo Capital’s reduction is due to its own capital needs.

It is also worth mentioning that during Aobo Capital’s reduction, Baili Tiangeng’s 2025 September restricted shares of 11.8738 million held by 18 institutions including China Europe Fund and E Fund (accounting for 2.88% of the company’s total share capital), which were issued through private placement, were also unlocked and listed for trading on March 25, 2026, after a six-month lock-up period.

Some secondary market investors told “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” that Aobo Capital’s reduction is a normal investment exit behavior of overseas financial investors, and the unlocking of private placement shares is a routine circulation arrangement after the lock-up period expires. However, the combination of these two events may affect the market’s judgment on the company’s circulating market pressure, institutional holdings, and capital game patterns, and also make investors more concerned about the company’s subsequent core clinical product progress and performance realization rhythm.

▌Post-90s Secretary of the Board Resigns Less Than Half a Year After Renewal

In the early years, Baili Tiangeng’s founder Zhu Yi, who made his first fortune through foreign trade and real estate, perhaps did not expect that after transforming into the innovative drug track and listing on the Science and Technology Innovation Board, the company would successfully reach a market value of over 1.05B yuan in just over two years. He also made it onto the “2026 Hurun Global Rich List,” becoming the new Sichuan richest person.

The starting point of all this is Baili Tiangeng’s independently developed, globally first EGFR x HER3 bispecific ADC product Iza‑bren (BL‑B01D1).

By the end of 2023, with this product reaching a potential maximum total transaction value of 8.4 billion USD in cooperation with BMS, Baili Tiangeng gained fame in the industry. Since then, Baili Tiangeng has become a representative of new quality productivity in the biopharmaceutical field, and Zhu Yi has frequently appeared in the public eye.

However, while market enthusiasm and industry reputation rapidly increased, Baili Tiangeng also faced practical management challenges such as team stability during its rapid growth.

In February this year, Baili Tiangeng’s post-90s Secretary of the Board, Chen Yingge, officially resigned, less than two years after taking office. Her original term was until September 28, 2028. The market also views this as another major adjustment after the company’s IPO in Hong Kong was halted.

Data shows that 35-year-old Chen Yingge holds a master’s degree in pharmaceutical design from University College London. Before joining Baili Tiangeng, she worked at Junshi Biosciences for 7 years and has extensive experience in pharmaceutical capital operations. It should be noted that when Chen Yingge left Baili Tiangeng, only about four months had passed since she was reappointed as the company’s secretary, nearly completing her renewal. Her pre-tax annual salary in 2024 was 1.0475 million yuan. The reason for her resignation disclosed by Baili Tiangeng was personal reasons.

After Chen Yingge’s departure, before appointing a new secretary of the board, senior executive Zhang Suya, nearly seventy years old, took over the duties of the secretary.

In fact, this is not the first recent personnel change at Baili Tiangeng. Industry sources revealed that the person responsible for public relations at Baili Tiangeng has also resigned, less than a year after joining.

Zhu Yi previously told media that the company is known in the industry for its high work intensity and demanding standards, and prefers talents with strong self-motivation and a pursuit of rapid growth to join.

“Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” found that currently, Baili Tiangeng is recruiting on a large scale across major platforms, with positions including HRBP, senior assistant to the general manager, investor relations, and director of public affairs, among others. At this stage, Baili Tiangeng is fully promoting the commercialization preparations of Iza‑bren, and the demand for talent is very urgent.

▌Single-Drug “Gambling” Has Uncertainties

Currently, Baili Tiangeng’s high valuation is almost supported solely by Iza‑bren. This drug is also regarded by the industry as another super molecule in China’s innovative drug pipeline. Although Iza‑bren has not yet been approved for listing in any country or region, it has achieved breakthrough clinical data in lung cancer, breast cancer, nasopharyngeal carcinoma, and other solid tumor fields, and is believed by the market to have “born blockbuster” potential, becoming Baili Tiangeng’s most distinctive label.

In fact, outside of the innovative drug business, Baili Tiangeng’s other major business segments are chemical drug formulations and traditional Chinese medicine formulations.

As of the first half of 2025, Baili Tiangeng holds 208 chemical drug registration approvals, 20 raw material drug approvals, and 30 Chinese medicine approvals. However, these products have not brought scale revenue to the company and have begun to show a decline year by year.

Financial reports show that from 2019 to 2024, Baili Tiangeng’s revenue from chemical drug formulations was 962 million yuan, 821 million yuan, 606 million yuan, 535 million yuan, 381 million yuan, and 322 million yuan, respectively. Revenue from Chinese medicine formulations was 243 million yuan, 190 million yuan, 189 million yuan, 167 million yuan, 179 million yuan, and 164 million yuan.

If the revenue from chemical and Chinese medicine formulations is used to “support” innovative drugs, it may not even be enough to support two phase III clinical trials abroad for Baili Tiangeng. This has become one of the current challenges faced by the company. As traditional generic drug business continues to decline and cutting-edge innovative drug R&D consumes huge amounts of money, if the explosive gains from “license-out” are difficult to sustain, how to balance short-term financial security with long-term strategic ambitions?

Puzhuo Capital analyst Luo Yongwen told “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily” that: “The current market generally ignores the severe risks in Baili Tiangeng’s financial health, the continuous decline of its traditional main business, the high uncertainty of its innovation pipeline, and valuation overreach. As a pipeline-driven biotech company transitioning from generics to innovative drugs, its actual situation is more akin to a high-risk, low-tolerance ‘gamble.’”

“Traditional business not only fails to provide cash flow for innovation R&D but also becomes a drag on performance due to declining profits, continuously consuming management resources. Meanwhile, innovative drug R&D faces great uncertainty, and the potential huge milestone payments in the Baili Tiangeng-BMS cooperation include many conditional payments. Any underperformance in clinical, registration, or sales stages could turn it into a hollow check,” Luo further explained.

In 2025, Baili Tiangeng reported a shift from profit to loss. Its revenue for that year was 2.52 billion yuan, down 56.72% year-on-year, with a net loss attributable to the parent of 3.71B yuan, a 128.34% decrease compared to a profit of 1.19B yuan in the same period last year.

The reasons are partly due to Baili Tiangeng receiving an initial non-refundable, non-deductible $800 million USD upfront payment from BMS in 2024, which boosted the base, while in 2025, it only received a milestone payment of $250 million USD, leading to a significant drop in revenue. Additionally, R&D for innovative drugs is still burning money wildly. By the end of 2025, Baili Tiangeng had 17 innovative drugs in clinical trials, including 6 global trials, and was advancing over 100 clinical studies worldwide, with R&D investment remaining high.

According to Baili Tiangeng’s Q3 2025 report, the company’s long-term liabilities had risen sharply from 1.189 billion yuan in 2024 to 2.81 billion yuan.

Luo Yongwen said: “Under the current overly optimistic market expectations, Baili Tiangeng’s valuation has already overdrawn future growth potential, with market value fully priced based on the logic of potential blockbuster products in clinical stages, prematurely incorporating scenarios of successful core pipeline development and smooth commercialization. This essentially makes the company a highly dependent ‘call option’ on a single product. If subsequent clinical data fall short, or R&D progress slows or encounters other setbacks, the high valuation will lose support, risking a sharp correction.”

A long-term biotech investor also told “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”: “Currently, Baili Tiangeng is highly tied to Iza‑bren; it can be said that ‘one荣俱荣, one损俱损’ (all for one, one for all). The success or failure of this drug’s R&D and commercialization will directly determine the company’s future trajectory. If Iza‑bren’s clinical progress goes smoothly and it successfully commercializes, the company’s current pressures will significantly ease. Conversely, if the drug’s development falls short or faces major setbacks, Baili Tiangeng may face dual impacts on valuation and fundamentals.”

A typical comparable case is Kangfang Biotech and its PD‑1/VEGF bispecific antibody Evorzi. The company’s stock price has shown sharp fluctuations like a “barometer” with Evorzi’s clinical progress, which also vividly illustrates the huge uncertainty inherent in the business model of innovative drug companies highly dependent on a single core pipeline. Before major products are fully commercialized, any clinical, approval, or partnership setbacks can be greatly amplified by the market, leading to significant valuation reconfigurations.

The investor also pointed out: “The real value of heavy-hitter ADC drugs like Iza‑bren largely depends on overseas markets, with domestic contribution being relatively limited. Previously, a benchmark ADC product in China was highly anticipated in sales during commercialization, but actual performance fell short of expectations due to payment environment and clinical application factors, failing to meet market optimism. This also reflects the upper limit of domestic market capacity for the commercialization of innovative drugs.”

“Currently, overseas late-stage clinical trials for Iza‑bren are still ongoing, with no data released yet. **The data supporting Iza‑bren’s earlier licensing to BMS was entirely based on Chinese clinical cases, but whether this data can be successfully reproduced overseas, given the different patient baselines and clinical standards, remains uncertain. Therefore, opening the door to foreign regulators for Iza‑bren still involves some variables,” the investor concluded.