After five consecutive years of losses, Guangxi’s state-owned assets have finally reached their limit and are preparing to sell shares.

It is worth noting that although Lamei Pharmaceutical’s performance has been poor, its stock price began rising significantly since September this year, gaining approximately 150%. Industry insiders speculate that this surge may be linked to recent developments concerning the company’s products. In September, CUD002—a tumor treatment vaccine developed by a subsidiary controlled by Lamei Pharmaceutical—received clinical trial approval. In October, Lamei Pharmaceutical announced it had obtained multiple drug registration certificates and approval notices from China’s National Medical Products Administration (NMPA), including nimodipine injection, esomeprazole magnesium enteric-coated capsules, and tranexamic acid sodium chloride injection. Of course, the equity stake—originally acquired for RMB 1.1 billion—is now valued at roughly RMB 1.4 billion, yielding a paper profit. Nevertheless, Lamei Pharmaceutical has suffered prolonged losses, making a turnaround extremely difficult; any successor investor must therefore prepare for a protracted battle. China’s Pharmaceutical Companies: A Tough 2024 In 2024, numerous pharmaceutical companies globally faced challenges including patent expirations, regulatory changes in drug pricing, and slowdowns in preclinical asset investments—triggering widespread layoffs and salary cuts across the biopharmaceutical sector. In the first half alone, over 80 biotech companies worldwide implemented layoffs affecting more than 10,000 employees—and the trend continued through year-end. On one hand, global healthcare investment and financing entered a phase of temporary decline. Data shows transaction volume dropped by over 20% year-on-year, while average deal size rose nearly 30%. For pharmaceutical companies, cost reduction became an even more critical priority in the second half. At the end of November, Gilead Sciences announced a new round of layoffs, planning to dismiss 104 employees at its Foster City headquarters. In December, Novartis announced plans to close its MorphoSys facilities in Germany and the U.S., with approximately 330 employees slated for layoff. Throughout the year, major pharmaceutical giants—including Bayer, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), GlaxoSmithKline, Takeda, and Johnson & Johnson—publicly disclosed layoffs. Additionally, many announced pipeline streamlining and termination of clinical programs. On the other hand, China’s medical anti-corruption campaign continues extending down to grassroots levels. According to incomplete statistics, since the second half of 2023, executives from 33 pharmaceutical companies have been placed under detention, criminally detained, investigated, or formally charged for suspected violations of law and discipline. Among these 33 companies, over 20 are A-share listed firms—including Winning Health, Selen Biotech, Wohua Pharmaceutical, Shanghai Pharmaceuticals, Yunnan Baiyao, Yangpu Medical, Dasenlin, Hisun Pharmaceutical, Hansoh Pharmaceutical, Baiyunshan, Xiangxue Pharmaceutical, Sihuan Biological, Nuotai Biotech, Nanwei Shares, Laiyin Biotech, and Jinhua Pharmaceutical. Industry insiders told reporters that the concentrated occurrence of investigations into pharmaceutical executives reflects, on one hand, the persistent severity of corruption driven by market-oriented profit-seeking behavior—some directors, supervisors, and senior management personnel, enticed by personal gain, lack legal awareness and fail to uphold ethical and legal boundaries. On the other hand, it also exposes institutional weaknesses within certain companies, where robust internal governance systems and effective checks-and-balances mechanisms remain inadequately established. In the biopharmaceutical sector specifically, causes of corruption vary widely, encompassing rent-seeking and illicit benefit transfers, insufficient oversight and systemic flaws, industry-specific characteristics coupled with profit-driven incentives, and cultural factors alongside moral deficiencies. The pharmaceutical industry has long been known for its lengthy capital chains, highly centralized decision-making authority, substantial profit margins, and dominant role of medical institutions. Corruption risks permeate numerous segments—including pharmaceutical representatives’ activities, drug tendering processes, medical device procurement and sales, and medical insurance reimbursement—making rent-seeking, kickbacks, bribery, and embezzlement persistently difficult to eradicate.

December | Summary of layoffs across 16 biopharmaceutical companies

On December 2, Alligator Bioscience announced a comprehensive strategic reassessment initiative, involving a 70% reduction in its workforce. Following the layoffs, the company’s full-time headcount will shrink to 15 employees. The restructuring remains subject to negotiations with labor unions and will primarily affect staff engaged in discovery and other non-clinical roles. Alligator expects the reorganization to reduce its annual operating expenses by approximately USD 5.9 million. Agenus undertakes strategic operational adjustments and lays off multiple executives According to WARN, Agenus announced a strategic operational adjustment involving layoffs of unspecified scale, aimed at concentrating resources on its lead botensilimab/balstilimab (BOT/BAL) program—which has demonstrated strong clinical activity across multiple cancers, including microsatellite-stable colorectal cancer (MSS CRC). Two biotech firms merge and conduct layoffs According to Fierce Biotech, Chroma (headquartered in Boston) and Nvelop (headquartered in Cambridge) announced their merger on December 11. Due to functional redundancies and overlapping areas, the number of affected employees remains undisclosed. The merged entity, nChroma Bio, secured USD 75 million in new financing. Per the announcement, this funding—combined with existing cash on hand at both companies at the time of the transaction—will provide multi-year liquidity. This capital infusion will also support Chroma’s continued development of its epigenetic editing platform and advance its lead candidate CRMA-1001 into clinical trials to generate pivotal data. CRMA-1001 is a liver-targeted epigenetic editing therapy designed to treat chronic hepatitis B and D co-infection. Editas lacks a partner for its sickle cell disease drug and cuts 65% of staff According to Bloomberg, Editas announced on December 12 that, having failed to secure a partner for its sickle cell disease therapy renizgamglogene autogedtemcel, it would discontinue its ex vivo therapy program within the next six months and cut approximately 65% of its workforce. This move will impact several members of the company’s management team, including Chief Medical Officer Baisong Mei. The biotech firm expects these adjustments to extend its cash runway into Q2 2027. Looking ahead, Editas will focus its resources and expertise on developing its in vivo CRISPR editing assets. Ring Therapeutics cuts nearly 50% of staff On December 18, Ring Therapeutics announced a near 50% reduction in its workforce, refocusing exclusively on its proprietary gene-drug delivery platform, Anellobricks. "This platform offers exceptional scalability and holds potential to transform gene medicine," the company wrote in a letter to Endpoints. "Accordingly, we have reduced our current employee base to ensure we possess the right mix of skills and capabilities to sustain growth as our pipeline advances and we progress toward clinical development."

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