Medicilon's Differentiated Competitive Tactics Makes CRO Industry Chain "Small But Beautiful"

As one of the six strategic emerging industries supported by the Sci-tech Innovation Board, the biomedical industry has sent a number of innovative drug companies to the Sci-Tech Innovation Board. Behind these innovative drug companies, drug R&D service outsourcing (CRO) companies continue to empower innovative drug R&D with a sharper innovative vision and more cutting-edge R&D capabilities.
Medicilon, which started in Zhangjiang, Shanghai, is one of the few domestic new drug research and development preclinical research companies with comprehensive service capabilities. It has been doing everything from drug discovery and discovery to pharmaceutical research to preclinical research for more than ten years to assist customers quickly and efficiently Complete all stages of preclinical research on new drug development.
“In fact, we have been catching up with innovation.” Recently, Medicilon’s founder, actual controller, and CEO Chen Chunlin expressed the value and difficulty of the CRO preclinical research industry in an exclusive interview with Shanghai Stock Exchange. In his view, CRO pre-clinical research services require companies to move forward earlier and earlier, which forces the company to always strive for the most cutting-edge and innovative technological achievements. As a “pathfinder” running at the forefront of new drug research and development, Medicilon hopes to use the science and technology innovation board to become the “small and beautiful” in the CRO industry chain.

IPO in Shanghai Stock Exchange

In recent years, with the vigorous development of my country’s innovative drug industry, the CRO industry has been increasingly sought after by industrial capital, and leading companies have gradually moved to the center of the capital market. Founded in 2004, Medicilon is the first batch of “pathfinders” in the domestic CRO industry. The emergence of the Science and Technology Innovation Board opened a brand new securitization channel for it.
In Chen Chunlin’s view, everything is the best arrangement. When Chen Chunlin returned to China to start his own business, he focused his attention on the forefront of the CRO industry chain, that is, he chose to start with animal testing, specializing in drug discovery and discovery, and was not limited to a single species, but provided a full range of chemical and biological drugs. Comprehensive service.
Although the industry believes that Chen Chunlin picked one of the most difficult bones in the industry chain, looking back at the choices at that time, Chen Chunlin told reporters that he did not regret it. Although Medicilon’s development is slower and smaller in scale, he is proud of Medicilon from the bottom of his heart for every technology, every new drug, and every customer he has acquired one step at a time and steadily. .
Nowadays, Medicilon has comprehensive preclinical new drug research and development capabilities, and it is one of the few comprehensive CRO companies in China that can use a one-stop biomedicine preclinical research and development service platform to complete the entire process from lead compound screening and optimization to new drug clinical approval application . It is reported that since 2015, more than 50 new drug and generic drug projects completed by Medicilon have been approved for phase I clinical trials.
In the process of many innovative drug companies “rushing to the sci-tech innovation board” one after another, Medicilon has attracted much attention from the market as an “enabler” of innovative drugs.
On April 3, Medicilon officially entered the “examination room” of the Science and Technology Innovation Board and became an earlier batch of “test candidates” who obtained the “examination admission ticket”. At present, the company has completed multiple rounds of inquiries and entered the semi-annual report update period. Looking back to the previous review and inquiry process, the fully open and electronic review process allowed the Medicilon team to fully feel the speed and strength of technology innovation in the capital market.
“We admire the auditors’ familiarity and professionalism in the CRO industry. During the multiple rounds of audit inquiries, the company used both written responses and on-site communication to ensure the efficient operation of audit interactive Q&A.” Chen Chunlin commented on the registration system The review of issuance and listing has deep feelings.

Competitive Differentiation

Different from leading companies in the same industry, they chose to cut into the layout from a single product in the early stage, and then enrich the product types after extending the subdivision service chain. In the early stage of business, Medicilon aimed at multi-variety, comprehensive, one-stop service, innovative technology and R&D. The high standards and strict requirements of strength also make the company have to slow down on the road of excellence to a certain extent, maintain scientific rigor and test accuracy.
The early comprehensive strategic choice allowed the company to embark on a “refined” development path. Chen Chunlin looked back at the development journey and found that some of the “imperfections” seemed to be forming the company’s unique “landscape”. This path may be the path in the eyes of others, allowing Medicilon to gather the advantages of differentiated competition.
Chen Chunlin believes that Medicilon’s core advantages are mainly reflected in three aspects: First, time advantage. The early start of the layout has allowed the company to have comprehensive preclinical new drug research and development capabilities and rich research and development experience. At present, Medicilon has become a comprehensive CRO company that can provide a series of services from lead compound screening, optimization, API preparation, formulation process development, pharmacodynamic research, to preclinical pharmacokinetics and drug safety evaluation. , Relying on the integrated comprehensive service capabilities to fully meet the different needs of customers, customer stickiness is further enhanced.
The second is platform advantage. The early start also provided sufficient time for the company to build a technology platform. What makes Chen Chunlin proud is that the company has established a protein/antibody pharmacokinetic research platform with advanced level, supporting functions and complete facilities in the cutting-edge fields of biotechnology drug research and development such as antibodies and antibody drug conjugates. Biotechnology drugs The professional technical service platform for safety evaluation of non-human primates has improved the research and technical support of domestic antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates and other biotech drugs.
“The company has helped customers complete a complete set of preclinical studies for several antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). The complete set of pharmacokinetics and safety evaluation studies for 2 ADC drugs have passed the technical review and entered the clinical trial stage. “When it comes to the advantages of Medicilon’s technology platform, Chen Chunlin cherishes every professional technological breakthrough and achievement.
Behind the platform advantage is a research team formed by a group of professionals. As the leader of the company’s technical team, Chen Chunlin comprehensively manages the company’s R&D business activities and determines the strategic direction for the improvement and development of the company’s new drug R&D technology platform.
The third is differentiated advantages. This is mainly due to the business segmentation track chosen by the company and the core customers the company serves. In the early days, the company, like other domestic leading CRO companies, mainly focused on international pharmaceutical companies. Since then, in the context of the market where leading domestic pharmaceutical companies continue to increase investment in innovative drug R&D, the company has proactively seized the opportunities in the local innovative drug market and strengthened the development of the domestic drug R&D market.
At present, the company has provided high-quality, high-efficiency, and high-standard pharmaceutical R&D services for many domestic pharmaceutical companies, such as Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, Yangtze River Pharmaceuticals, CSPC, Huahai Pharmaceuticals, Zhongsheng Pharmaceuticals, and Jimin Trust, etc. Pharmaceutical companies are the company’s customers, and many emerging innovative biomedical technology companies are also the company’s main source of customers.
“Many innovative drug customers are queuing with us for IPO on the Sci-tech Innovation Board at the same time.” Chen Chunlin said with a smile that Microchip, the first listed company, and Biotech, among the companies under review, are all Medicilon customers. And the unanimous evaluation of these pharmaceutical companies on Medicilon is: “How fast, better, and less expensive, so that professionals can do professional things.”
In recent years, with the country’s policy encouragement for new drug research and development, and a large number of Chinese experts in the pharmaceutical industry returning to China to start businesses, many outstanding and well-known new drug research and development companies have emerged in China. These new drug companies generally focus on the research direction and drug design and other links, and entrust high-demand, long-term R&D work to comprehensive preclinical research CRO companies with rich research experience and strong comprehensive service capabilities. A large number of start-up new drug R&D companies have become potential customers of Medicilon.
If this time to successfully land on the Sci-tech Innovation Board, Medicilon’s financial difficulties and scale difficulties will be easily solved. The company intends to raise 347 million yuan to invest in the new drug discovery and pharmaceutical research and reporting platform new project of the innovative drug research and international reporting center, the new preclinical research and reporting platform new project of the innovative drug research and international reporting center, and supplementary flows funds. In the face of innovative drug companies that have sprung up like bamboo shoots after a rain, Medicilon is ready to serve.
Happiness may be late, but not late. Chen Chunlin said that with the help of the Sci-tech Innovation Board, the company hopes to further enlarge “small and beautiful”, out of “fine and detailed”, and towards “big and strong”.