Uni-Bio Science Group: 2020 Annual Results

HONG KONG SAR -
EQS Newswire – 30 March 2021 – A fully
integrated biopharmaceutical company – Uni-Bio
Science Group Limited (“Uni-Bio Science”, together with its
subsidiaries referred to as the “Group”, stock code: 0690.HK), is pleased to announce its annual results for the year ended 31 December 2020 (the “Year”), as well as its
comparative figures for the year ended 31 December 2019 (“2019”).

Key Accomplishments
in 2020

During the Year,
the Group achieved a spectrum of accomplishments, for both of its marketed
products and innovative biologics. The key highlights include:

1.    GeneTime® (EGF spray
indicated for wound healing) generated remarkable results. Sales
of GeneTime® reached HK$137.2 million, representing an increase of 9.5% YoY.
The Group’s newly-developed digital marketing and pharmaceutical e-commerce
platform will continue to be a strong sales driver of GeneTime®.

2.    The Group’s Pinup® (Voriconazole Tablets) had been
successfully approved by the National Medical Products Administration (“NMPA”) for Bioequivalence (“BE”) certification in December 2020, and
had been included in the national procurement tender on 8 December 2020. The approval would facilitate Pinup®’s hospital tenders
and listings, especially in national procurement, to achieve a larger market
share in the anti-fungal infection drug market.

3.    Durning the Year, the Group’s Uni-PTH
(pre-filled injection pen) or 2nd Generation Uni-PTH was successfully approved
by NMPA for clinical trial. The Group will begin conducting bridging clinical
trial for 2nd Generation Uni-PTH. In May
2020, the Group started a partnership with Swiss self-care giant Ypsomed to
co-develop 2nd Generation Uni-PTH alongside YpsoPen®, a state-of-the-art pen
injector with unparalleled dosing accuracy which minimized injection pain.

4.   
The application for clinical trial of
Recombinant GLP-1 Injection (“Uni-GLP”)
has been approved by NMPA on 14 July 2020. Currently, the Group’s professional
and technical teams are making great efforts in preparing for clinical
trial-related work. Supported by recent data, Uni-GLP has proven its
developmental potential in treatment of COVID-19 and other high value
indications.

5.    The Group’s Boshutai® (Acarbose Tablets) was granted
approval for marketing in China by NMPA on 10 November 2020 and the Group also
passed GMP manufacturing inspection and was approved to manufacture Boshutai®
from 10 December 2020. To ensure Boshutai® would be manufactured at
the most competitive cost, the Group formed a strategic partnership with
Sinopharm Weiqida Pharmaceutical Company Limited and Suzhou Yingli Medical
Technology Company Limited during the Year to lower the production cost,
increase manufacturing efficiency and streamline the overall supply chain.

6.    During the Year, the Group partnered with Chengdu
Medlinker Technology Company Limited to co-develop digital marketing and
pharmaceutical e-commerce platform for the Group’s products. Aiming at creating
an integrated healthcare system, this corporation is expected to deliver much
better service for patients and clinical practitioners, expanding its available
marketing channels, and enhancing brand awareness. In addition, the Group is
also proactively exploring partners such as Haodaifu (好大夫在線) and
other respective platforms to address the unmet needs for online drug sales.

Annual
Results

In 2020, the
Group recorded a turnover of HK$208.8 million, representing a slight decrease
of approximately 0.3% YoY (2019: HK$209.4 million). The decrease in turnover was
mainly attribute to the significant sales drop in the first quarter of 2020
during the outbreak of COVID 19. The turnover in the second half exceeded
expectation, and was able to offset most of the shortfall in the first half of
2020. Among all the products, GeneTime® was particularly favoured by the
market, with an increase of 9.5% in turnover from approximately HK$125.3 million in 2019 to HK$137.2
million in 2020. The remarkable turnover growth was mainly attributable to the
strong recovery from hospital sales due to efforts of the Group’s broad market
team, as well as the additional turnover from the newly-developed digital
marketing and pharmaceutical e-commerce platform since May 2020. During the
Year, GeneSoft® recorded a decrease in turnover from approximately HK$33
million in 2019 to HK$31.6 million, representing a decrease of4.2%. The
decrease was mainly attributable to the serious reduction in patients’ hospital
visits since the outbreak of COVID-19, despite there was a gradual recovery in
the second half of the Year. Market competition was keen as Pinup® did
not received its BE Certification from the NMPA until December 2020. Pinup®
recorded a decrease of 21.9% in turnover from approximately HK$48.0 million to
approximately HK$37.5 million during the Year. The decrease was also attributed
to the reduction in patients’ hospital visits due to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Gross profit slightly
decreased 0.2% from approximately HK$181.5 million in 2019 to HK$181.1 million in
2020, whereas gross profit margin remained stable at 86.7% (2019: 86.7%). Alongside the ongoing internal control and business optimization by
digitalization, as well as the restructuring of the Group’s sales force and the
building of its direct sales team, general and administrative expenses
(“G&A Expenses”) decreased for three consecutive years. G&A Expenses
decreased 39.7% yoy from HK$ 59.4 million in 2019 to HK$ 35.8 million in 2020,
accounted for 17.2% of turnover as compared with 28.4% in 2019. The
percentage of selling and distribution expense over turnover improved to
around 70.0% in 2020 from 71.3% in 2019 because of the Group’s cautious
salesforce optimization. R&D expenses slightly decreased by 4.6% to HK$ 40.7 million
due to the completion of several clinical tests, of which the development
expenses have been capitalized. Operating
loss for the Year was HK$ 70.9 million due to an impairment of intangible
assets from certain old technologies of previous version products (Uni-PTH and
Uni-GLP) and an impairment of intangible assets from the unsatisfied BE result
and the suspended BE process of Boshutai®. Excluding the impact of write-off intangible assets and impairment loss on deposit paid for
the acquisition of intangible assets in 2020 together with one off gains from
disposal of property and subsidiary in 2019, the normalised operating loss was
significantly reduced from HK$62.7 million
in 2019 to HK$ 34.8 million
in 2020. For 2020, the Group recorded a loss of HK$ 71.3 million (2019: profit
of HK$2.5 million), with a basic loss per share of HK 1.11 cents (2019 basic
earnings per share: HK0.04 cents).

Prospects

The COVID-19 pandemic has not only driven the growth of
the pharmaceutical industry, but also boosted the online healthcare sector,
especially in China. Regulatory reforms have been introduced to support the
digitalization of the healthcare industry. The Group believes that the
favorable online market environment and government policies would benefit its
business operation and promotebusiness growth in the future.

Focusing on the Sales of EGF Products