The first year of commercialization for the antibody-drug conjugate star Kelun Botai falls short of market expectations.

Interface News reporter | Huang Hua

Interface News editor | Xie Xin

On March 23, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) released its 2025 financial report. During the period, the company recorded revenue of RMB 2.06B, up 6.5% year over year. The company incurred a loss of RMB 382 million during the period, which was slightly larger than in the same period.

On March 24, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) rose more than 4% during intraday trading. As of the close on March 24, the company’s shares were HK$421 per share, up 5.89%, with a total market value of HK$98.2 billion. On the morning of March 25, the company’s share price continued to rise.

Regarding its 2025 performance, on March 24, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) told Interface News that the drivers behind the company’s revenue growth during the period were two areas: product commercialization scaling up and milestone payments.

For the widening of its losses, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) told Interface News that the main reasons were that as products were launched, the company’s commercialization team expanded rapidly. The company formed a team of more than 600 people during the period and built a corresponding commercialization system. In addition, its R&D spending was also higher than in 2024.

The reason to pay attention to Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s operating performance is that this pharmaceutical company is a representative player in the domestic antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) sector. Changes in its performance can reflect the commercialization status of this type of drug in China.

Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s product pipeline Interface News reporter screenshot from the company’s official website

At present, in the antibody-drug conjugate segment, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) has two commercially marketed ADC products: TROP2 ADC sacituzumab govitecan (sac-TMT, Jialetai) and HER2 ADC trastuzumab deruxtecan (Shuitaile). Their first approvals were in November 2024 and October 2025, respectively.

Sacituzumab govitecan is the first domestically developed TROP2 ADC approved for上市 in China, and it is also the first domestically developed ADC in China to be fully approved for上市.

In the first half of 2025, among Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s total commercial sales of RMB 309.8 million, the sales share of sacituzumab govitecan reached 97.6%. In other words, this product sold about RMB 300 million within half a year.

However, judging from Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s financial reports, the scaling up of sacituzumab govitecan in the second half of 2025 is not going well.

The company’s financial report shows that in 2025 full year, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s total drug revenue was RMB 543 million. In other words, sacituzumab govitecan’s sales performance in the second half was weaker than in the first half. Based on the proportion in the first half, the company’s full-year revenue would be about RMB 500 million.

But that is a sizable gap from the predictions of many brokerages in mid-2025. For example, a report by the Economic Daily reported that UBS Securities’ July 2025 research note said that the sales target of sacituzumab govitecan in the Chinese market in 2025 was approximately RMB 800 million–RMB 1.0 billion.

Regarding the actual sales situation of Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s core ADC products in 2025, Goldman Sachs said that sacituzumab govitecan in 2025 is mainly sold on a self-pay basis, which limits patient accessibility and causes product sales to fall short of expectations. Of course, since January 1 this year, sacituzumab govitecan has been included in the National Reimbursement Drug List. Both non-small cell lung cancer and triple-negative breast cancer are included in the scope.

In addition, annual drug revenue of RMB 500 million only accounts for one quarter of Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s total revenue of RMB 2 billion, meaning the contribution from drug sales is very limited. This reflects that the company’s revenue still mainly depends on external commercial licensing.

Cartography: Interface News reporter Huang Hua

Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) was established in 2016 and listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in July 2023. Around the IPO, the most common label attached to Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) was “a Kelun group company.” It was once viewed as merely a biopharmaceutical company under the infusion kings. But as antibody-drug conjugates gained more attention in China, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) quickly became a focus in the industry.

On its listing day, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s market capitalization was HK$13.5 billion. Since then, the company has further become a darling of the capital markets. In June 2025, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) completed a HK stock placement of US$250 million, setting a record for the highest scale of new share placements in the Hong Kong biotech and pharma industry for that year. On August 5, 2025, the company’s market capitalization first exceeded HK$100 billion.

In terms of its development stage, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) is currently in the phase where its first batch of products is entering commercialization. Besides sacituzumab govitecan and trastuzumab deruxtecan, toripalimab (Cotailei) and cetuximab N01 (Datailai) were approved in January 2025 and February 2025, respectively.

Although the sales performance of its core antibody-drug conjugates in 2025 fell short of market expectations, over the two years from 2024 to 2025, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s drug revenue increased from RMB 50 million to the RMB 500 million scale. In the same period, the company’s licensing and collaboration agreement revenue was approximately RMB 1.8 billion and RMB 1.5 billion, respectively.

Among many innovative drug companies, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) is one of the domestic companies that announced early-stage large international licensing collaborations. For example, in 2022, it reached licensing transactions with Merck several times, with the highest total cumulative deal value exceeding US$10 billion. The fact that a large proportion of the company’s revenue also comes from licensing collaborations reflects the results in this direction.

However, while licensing transactions can promptly replenish cash flow and lay groundwork for the company’s international development, it is uncertain how much milestone revenue the company will be able to obtain later. Judging from Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s financial data, this type of revenue decreased slightly between 2024 and 2025, which also caused the company’s revenue growth to slow somewhat.

Overall, within three years of being listed, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot)’s revenue has grown steadily, and its losses have largely remained at roughly the same order of magnitude. Whether the company can further demonstrate its commercial value will still need to be continuously assessed based on the sales performance of its products thereafter.

Looking at the subsequent pipeline, Kelun-Biotech (Culunbot) still has a number of antibody-drug conjugates. For example, CLDN18.2 ADC SKB315, Nectin-4 ADC, SKB410, and bispecific antibody ADC SKB571, among others.

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