After the bell rings, many stories have just begun.
As Hong Kong opens its doors to unprofitable biotech companies, innovative pharmaceutical companies are gradually entering the field of secondary market investors. The biggest challenge for this entirely new industry is how to evaluate companies that are not profitable or even have no revenue. How do investment institutions that are accustomed to financial statements understand clinical data, and how can data be converted into value? These issues make biotechnology a high-barrier to entry, and how to communicate with investors is also extremely important.
On the other side of the table, maintaining good communication with investors has become the most important compulsory course for CFOs of biotech companies.
At the Zhangjiang Life Sciences International Innovation Summit at shanghai International Biomedical Industry Week, bioPR, R&D customers and Zhangjiang Pharmaceutical Valley jointly held an IR/PR forum. At the forum, Liang Jin, managing director of the investment banking department of CICC, asked the CFO of four listed biotechnology companies, namely, Jay Zhu of Tianjing Biologics, Li Ankang of Tengsheng Bo Pharmaceutical, Long Zhenguo of Deqi Pharmaceutical, and Li Xinlei of Fuhong Henlin: How to do a good job of investor communication after listing?
The process of communication can also find value
After the listing, the company is always with investors. Investors from NASDAQ, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, and the A-share Science and Technology Innovation Board have natural differences, how to fully communicate with them, as far as possible to show the company's advantages and highlights?
As a Chinese bio-innovative pharmaceutical company listed on nasdaq, Jay Zhu, CFO of Tianjing Bio, is deeply touched.
He said that in the process of communicating with US investors, in addition to the progress of the company's research and development pipeline, new target development, trading, competitive products, etc., they need to let investors understand the pricing system of the Chinese market. For example, what is medical insurance negotiation, what kind of results will be brought after each negotiation, what is the difference between medical insurance negotiation and collection, and whether there will be some risks brought about by medical insurance negotiation and collection in every field in the future.
In addition, it is also important for investors to understand the attitude of the Chinese government and pharmaceutical authorities to the innovative drug industry, as well as the risks and rewards of making innovative drugs in China, which will help investors better understand Chinese biotech companies.
Jay Zhu, who was unable to attend the scene, participated in the forum online
"Within the scope of disclosure permitted by law, how much is said is more, and how much is less? The grasp of this scale is an art. Jay Zhu said.
For Tengsheng Bo Pharmaceutical, which focuses on non-tumor areas, how to let investors understand the space of the Chinese market has become particularly important. Li Ankang, CFO of the company, said that the current research and development pipeline of Tengshengbo Drugs includes hepatitis B, multi-drug resistant antibiotics, AIDS drugs and postpartum depression drugs. Different investors have very different understandings of these projects.
"For example, hepatitis B and multi-drug resistant antibiotics are very large markets in China, but for investors who are more familiar with the global market, they don't know much about these." In turn, for AIDS drugs and central nervous system drugs, the global market is very large, and the Chinese market has not yet developed. Chinese investors need to be educated and helped understand the market space in these areas. ”
Li Ankang believes that the process of communicating with investors is also the process of helping investors discover the value of the company.
Long Zhenguo, CFO of Deqi Pharmaceutical, also believes that it is very necessary to help investors dynamically understand the value of the company. "The first commercial drug of Tekki Pharma in the Asia-Pacific market was introduced under the authorization of a US company, so the performance of the US company will also affect us to some extent. We also spend a lot of time explaining to investors in the U.S. and Hong Kong the competitive environment and our expectations for commercialization in the future. At the same time, investors also need to understand that as an innovative pharmaceutical company with an independent research and development + cooperative introduction model, some of the products in our pipeline are aimed at unmet clinical needs in the Asia-Pacific region, and some are aimed at the global market. Investors need to be made aware of the future potential of these products. ”
Long Zhenguo participated in the discussion online
At present, the U.S. investment in biomedical companies is mainly institutional investors, while the Hong Kong stock and A-share science and technology innovation board gather more retail investors, the two are different in professionalism, and the expectations of the company are also different.
In this regard, Li Xinlei, CFO of Henlius, made an interesting analogy: "The group behavior of investors is very interesting. When we face professional institutional investors, we must be like Li Bai and use a more concise way to tell the differentiation of the company. When communicating with ordinary investors, like Bai Juyi, use more simple language to help them dissolve some of the knowledge barriers of this industry. ”
Know yourself, but also understand your opponents
This year, the entire pharmaceutical market has experienced several large fluctuations, and the so-called listed companies, the fluctuation of stock prices is inevitable.
Li Xinlei believes that it is necessary to communicate with the market openly and honestly and solve the doubts of investors. Pass on to investors the changes in the market, the changes in competitors, and all kinds of information. It is a process of mutual observation and understanding. "As a CFO, in addition to knowing your own company, you must also understand your partners and opponents and the entire innovation ecosystem, and pass this information on to the company's team of scientists, CEOs and board of directors."
Li Xinlei
Li Ankang believes that when there are more uncertainties, it is necessary to properly grasp the expectations of investors. At the time of the IPO, Temsex did not focus on the project of the new crown neutralization antibody, although some investors believed that the potential of the new crown project could increase the ipo valuation of the company.
"At that time, we considered that there was a lot of uncertainty about the epidemic, and that our clinical trials were designed to be more real-world applications, and there was a certain risk in accepting patients who received treatment later after symptoms appeared. Of course, after the results of the Phase III clinical trial came out, more investors paid attention to our new crown project, and the stock price also rose significantly. With the release of MERCK's NEW CROWN small molecule drug data, the valuation of the entire industry has changed very much. Investors have seen us seek truth from the IPO to the follow-up communication process, based on data, to build trust in us and recognize the long-term value of the company. “
Lee An Kang
"I think it's not about describing your product too well on top of the wind, or trying to make yourself stand out from the crowd when you're overall pessimistic. As long as you firmly believe in the differences of your company, understand your own advantages, and build trust with investors in the company. Because the market does not necessarily reflect the true value of the company in a timely manner, valuation is a process of constant adjustment. Lee Saidang Kang.
Don't worry too much about short-term fluctuations
When it comes to IPO financing, Jay Chu believes that IPO pricing is too high is a very serious mistake. "Overpricing can lead to problems in late-stage trading, and shrinking volume can create a vicious circle."
In fact, short-term stock price fluctuations are difficult to control, and he believes that the best thing to do is not to pay too much attention. "90% of short-term volatility is powerless, and it's our job to get CEOs to understand this step by step."
"Of course, there will be a return of value in the medium and long term, and for biotech, one is clinical data and the other is transaction." That's what we really need to focus on. The more the stock price fluctuates, the more you want to know what differentiated competitiveness the company has, and refine the story as fine as possible, so that a very unfriendly investor can fully understand it within three minutes. “
Jay Zhu took Tianjing Bio as an example, saying: "For example, where are the advantages of our CD47 monoclonal antibody, CD73 monoclonal antibody, CD38 monoclonal antibody, how well the commercialization team is built, and whether there will be other follow-up transactions after the transaction with AbbVie, etc., these are the things we need to feedback to investors in time." At the same time, he also mentioned that when the stock price fluctuates, each department has a greater sense of urgency, which is also the time to push the company's entire team forward quickly.
When the stock price fluctuates, in Long Zhenguo's view, it is often an investment opportunity. "In fact, the fundamentals of the company will be reflected in the progress of the R&D pipeline. And for investors, what they care most about is when this will happen in the future. Different investors are also less able to withstand volatility. “
Editor| Yao Jia layout| Zhang Yue
Issue 1431