Author | Li Xin

Editor | Wei Fanxi

On the evening of June 4th, AmoyDx announced a significant equity transfer, with its actual controller Zheng Limou's entity selling 20% of its equity at a price of 21.20 yuan per share. Sinopharm Group spent 1.654 billion yuan to become the new actual controller.

This capital transaction, with a premium of 3.87%, marks the end of the founding team's leadership era. It is not only a symbolic event of a high-quality IVD target actively binding with state-owned assets but will also stir the competitive logic in the domestic tumor companion diagnosis track, accelerating the integration of state-owned assets in the industry.

After a four-day suspension, the control transaction of AmoyDx was finalized. According to the announcement disclosed by the Shenzhen Stock Exchange, the controlling shareholder Qianzhan Investment transferred 78.021 million shares to Sinopharm Technology Innovation, corresponding to 20% of the total share capital, with a total transaction price of 1.654 billion yuan and a transfer price of 21.20 yuan per share, slightly above the closing price of 20.41 yuan per share before the suspension, reflecting a premium of 3.87%. The listed company officially resumed trading on June 5th.

Sinopharm made a commitment to a five-year equity lock-up, stating that the transferred shares cannot be sold for 60 months from the date of transfer, signaling a long-term strategic layout. After the transfer is completed, the original actual controller Qianzhan Investment will hold only 2.4% of the shares remaining, while founder Zheng Limou retains the position of chairman, continuing to oversee research and development and strategic planning, and his son remains an executive responsible for multinational pharmaceutical cooperation.

Zheng Limou, who is over seventy, founded AmoyDx in 2008. His transition from entrepreneurship to relinquishing control was not a passive exit.

From the underlying logic of the transaction, the combination of age and industry policy changes is the core incentive. The normalization of IVD centralized procurement in 2025-2026, the implementation of DRG/DIP cost control, and tightening regulation of third-party medical testing have increased pressure on private IVD companies to enter hospitals and negotiate prices. Introducing central enterprise resources has become the preferred path for leading companies to achieve stable development.

Looking at the industry, Guangzhou Pharmaceutical's acquisition of Da An Gene, Rendu Biotech's local state-owned capital investment, and RunDa Medical's introduction of state-owned enterprise strategic investment have become the norm. Sinopharm's acquisition of AmoyDx is another significant case in the wave of state-owned capitalization of private IVD companies.

The slightly premium pricing of this transaction indirectly confirms that Sinopharm values the company's scarce licenses and resources linked to drug diagnostics, rather than simply seeking to acquire quality assets at low prices.

Relying on its two independently developed technology platforms, SuperARMS® and ADx-ARMS®, AmoyDx has established a technological barrier in tumor companion diagnosis.

According to the 2025 annual report, AmoyDx holds more than 30 NMPA Class III medical device registration certificates, and several products have obtained EU CE certification, making it one of the few domestic IVD manufacturers deeply embedded in the global innovative drug clinical chain.

On the product side, in 2018, it launched the first ctDNA liquid biopsy kit in China for Osimertinib, paving the way for compliant non-invasive blood testing for drug resistance targets. That same year, it was approved for multi-gene joint testing products, and in 2023, it partnered with AstraZeneca to develop exclusive companion diagnostic reagents, forming a differentiated business model distinct from ordinary IVD "simply selling reagents." From a financial perspective, AmoyDx achieved a revenue of 1.198 billion yuan in 2025, a year-on-year increase of 8.01%; the net profit attributable to shareholders was 361 million yuan, a significant increase of 41.74% year-on-year, with a non-recurring net profit growth rate of 47.33%. The comprehensive gross profit margin remained stable at 82.59% for many years, with the gross profit margin of single reagent products approaching 90%. Despite the industry's collective procurement price reductions and the impact of medical anti-corruption, the profitability showed remarkable resilience, with the net profit margin rising to 30.16%.

In terms of business structure, reagent revenue accounted for 79.47% of total revenue, with overseas income of 272 million yuan, accounting for 22.70%. The internationalization is steadily advancing, having successively partnered with leading pharmaceutical companies such as AstraZeneca, Roche, Pfizer, HengRui, and BeiGene, relying on continuous order fulfillment from new drug clinical development, which is also the core logic behind Sinopharm's substantial investment in holding.

In an environment where profitability is generally shrinking across the industry, AmoyDx avoided price competition in biochemical and immuno IVD by relying on the "drug-diagnosis symbiosis" model. Conventional IVD has undergone multiple rounds of inter-provincial alliance collective procurement, with average price reductions of over 50% for biochemical and luminescent reagents.

Moreover, many small and medium-sized manufacturers have seen their profits significantly shrink, with only 9 out of over 60 listed IVD companies achieving simultaneous revenue and net profit growth. Meanwhile, tumor companion diagnostics, relying on the essential demand for targeted drugs, maintain a high level of prosperity, becoming one of the few high-profit segments in the industry.

From an industry perspective, the IVD sector has already entered a phase of structural differentiation. The conventional biochemical and immunology fields are saturated with domestic production, compounded by multiple rounds of collective procurement, leading to continuous price declines in the market. After the COVID-19 benefits fade, the revenue of the molecular diagnostics general track has collectively contracted, with only high-barrier segments like tumor companion diagnostics and pathology AI maintaining high gross profit margins.

However, leading segments also face three significant obstacles: difficulties in hospital access, tightening control over LDT pilot programs, and the rectification of external gene testing. The empowerment of state-owned assets has become a key solution to break through these challenges.

For Sinopharm Group, this acquisition fills its gap in precision medicine. Sinopharm's original main business focuses on pharmaceutical distribution, traditional Chinese medicine manufacturing, and drug circulation, covering over 10,000 medical institutions and more than 6,000 secondary and above hospitals nationwide. The scarce high-end tumor companion diagnostic registration qualifications and resources for cooperation with pharmaceutical companies can be complemented by acquiring AmoyDx, allowing for the improvement of the "drug + diagnosis" full industry chain layout, leveraging diagnostic reagents to bind innovative pharmaceutical companies and strengthen the collaborative ability of drug sales.

AmoyDx, on the other hand, leverages Sinopharm's channels to break through hospital access points, undertaking the internal testing projects that flow back after the rectification of external testing. At the same time, relying on its status as a central enterprise enhances its bargaining power in collective procurement, reducing profit losses caused by bidding price reductions.

Looking at the long term, the collaboration between drugs and diagnostics remains a highly certain evolutionary path for precision medicine, although there are multiple uncertainties lurking in the industry's progress.

If the registration review rules related to companion diagnostics are adjusted, the slowdown in the pace of new product certification will directly hinder the speed of enterprise pipeline updates.

The strategic cooperation agreements reached with leading overseas pharmaceutical companies may have uncertainties in future renewals. If cooperation is terminated and large orders are lost, it will directly impact main revenue.

If tumor gene testing categories are included in the collective procurement catalog, the downward pricing of products will further erode the profitability of enterprises The industry opportunities are equally prominent, and the industry reshuffling is accelerating into a clearing phase. Leading companies that hold three types of registration qualifications, are backed by state-owned resources, and are deeply bound to pharmaceutical resources will continuously erode the market share of small and medium-sized third-party testing institutions, promoting the ongoing deepening of industry concentration.

AmoyDx is a key landing vehicle for state-owned capital's layout in the precise in vitro diagnostics field. The company's future performance release efficiency and the pace of commercialization of various products in hospitals are important references for assessing the effectiveness of state-owned capital empowering the IVD industry. Its own valuation fluctuations will also provide reference for the capital market valuation pricing of listed companies in the same sector