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Key Takeaways:
3SBio's revenues jumped 94% to $2.58 billion in 2025, boosted by more than $1 billion in early payments from Pfizer
However, income from core sales and services slipped 9.3%, leaving investors torn between bullish and bearish reactions
For many Hong Kong-listed drugmakers, upfront payments from international licensing deals can deliver a financial shot in the arm, boosting earnings.
But the gains from these high-profile partnerships can sometimes be short-lived. A truer test of a company's financial health may lie in the underlying growth of its products, as illustrated by the latest annual results from 3SBio Inc. (1530.HK).
Beneath the impressive headline figures, which were lifted by a blockbuster rights deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer (PFE.US), the Chinese drugmaker's baseline sales slipped back, leaving investors in two minds about how to react.
3SBio's revenues surged 94.3% to 17.69 billion yuan ($2.58 billion) in 2025 from the prior year, while net profit quadrupled to 8.48 billion yuan, driven by about 9.43 billion yuan in fees related to Pfizer's purchase of international rights to a cancer drug under development. With up to $4.8 billion in additional milestone payments yet to be realized from that deal, the outlook seems bright. But for now, if the licensing windfall is excluded from 2025 earnings, income from products and services fell 9.3% to about 8.27 billion yuan.
Behind that core figure is a growing competitive challenge for 3SBio's established products, including a therapy to offset the effects of chemotherapy, and an erosion of market share.
The key revenue pillar, an injection to treat low platelet counts in patients with thrombocytopenia, is under pressure ...
