Will the "big fish eat small fish" pattern in the IVD industry continue?
Behind these frequent transfers, it reflects that the IVD industry has entered an integration period of reshuffling the existing market and increasing industry concentration. The Matthew effect is intensifying, and the industry is about to enter a structural differentiation stage where 'the strong get stronger and the weak are eliminated'.
Recently, there has been a wave of equity mergers and acquisitions in the in - vitro diagnostic (IVD) industry.
In May this year, Rendu Biotechnology (688193.SH) first announced that it would transfer 21.25% of the company's shares to Haijing Pharmaceutical at a total price of 516 million yuan. Its controlling shareholder and actual controller were also changed to Haijing Pharmaceutical and Zhang Xiantao respectively.
Shortly afterwards, Da'an Gene (002030.SZ) announced that it would transfer 26.63% of the company's shares (including direct and indirect holdings) to Guangyao Capital, a wholly - owned subsidiary of Guangyao Group, at a total transaction consideration of approximately 2.418 billion yuan. After the completion of this acquisition, Guangyao Capital also became the indirect controlling shareholder of Da'an Gene.
In June, the controlling shareholder of Aide Biotechnology (300685.SH) changed hands. It became a subsidiary of the central state - owned enterprise Sinopharm Group with a transfer price of 1.654 billion yuan.
Even earlier, Haooubo (688656.SH), 'the first domestic stock in allergen testing', also'sold itself' to China Biopharmaceutical (01177.HK), and its controlling shareholder became Huirong Kang, a wholly - owned subsidiary of China Biopharmaceutical.
“State - owned pharmaceutical companies and large industrial capitals have successively stepped in to acquire the control rights of listed IVD companies. Behind these frequent transfers, it reflects that the IVD industry has entered an integration period of reshuffling the existing market and increasing industry concentration. The Matthew effect is intensifying, and the industry is about to enter a structural differentiation stage where 'the strong get stronger and the weak are eliminated'.” Miao Tianyi, a partner of Puzhuo Capital, told a reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily.
The industry dilemma of 'declining volume and price'
After the special - period dividends faded, the IVD industry failed to replicate the trend of most industries returning to normal smoothly. Instead, it was deeply trapped in a painful period as a whole, and was thus classified by the market as one of the 'extremely miserable sectors'.
The 'declining volume and price' is the core cause of the current downward cycle in the IVD industry. On the price side, the normalization of centralized procurement and the implementation of medical service price regulation policies have directly led to a continuous decline in product prices. On the demand side, the implementation of new policies such as the unbundling of inspection packages and the mutual recognition of inspection results among medical institutions has directly caused a sharp contraction in the volume of testing services.
Wind data shows that based on the annual report performance data for 2025, among the 55 listed IVD companies in the A - share market, 44 had a year - on - year decline in operating income, and only 11 had a year - on - year increase. Among them, 37 had a year - on - year decline in net profit attributable to the parent company, including 11 companies with a decline of more than 100% and 19 companies with a decline of more than 50%. The total loss of the entire industry exceeded 6 billion yuan.
Wang Qiang, a well - known expert in medical device marketing management, said in an interview with a reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that during the adjustment stage of the IVD industry, this kind of'mergers of large companies with small ones' will continue. At the same time, small and medium - sized IVD enterprises will accelerate their exit.
Relevant statistical data shows that before the pandemic, the number of domestic IVD enterprises was about 2,600, while currently there are only about 1,800 left. According to the 'Directory of Chinese IVD Enterprises' released last year, the number of domestic IVD production enterprises in 2024 decreased by nearly 500 compared with 2023. Among them, more than 40 enterprises were forced to exit due to poor management, more than 80 exited voluntarily, and another 380 were removed from the directory because their business information had not been updated for a long time, their staff size was less than 3, or they had transformed their business and no longer engaged in IVD production.
In the view of Wen Qinglin, the deputy director of CIC, with the accelerated clearance of the industry, the valuations of enterprises whose previous performance had been overdrawn have dropped significantly. Some segment leaders with high - quality R & D bases and a large number of registration certificates have entered a window period for acquisition with high cost - effectiveness.
“Traditional horizontal mergers among peers may decrease. Large pharmaceutical companies with sufficient capital reserves, industrial capitals, or local state - owned assets have become important buyers, and the trend of the entry of state - owned capital is obvious.” Wen Qinglin further said.
Currently, according to the detection principle or technical characteristics, in - vitro diagnosis can be mainly divided into four core sectors: biochemical diagnosis, immunodiagnosis, molecular diagnosis, and POCT. Among them, biochemical diagnosis started early, has mature technology, and a relatively high localization rate; immunodiagnosis dominated by chemiluminescence is growing rapidly, but foreign - funded enterprises still occupy a dominant position; molecular diagnosis has achieved rapid expansion relying on the iteration of high - throughput sequencing technology; POCT diagnosis is a new type of IVD technology with the advantages of simple operation and on - site immediate detection.
Miao Tianyi judged that in the future, there are mainly three directions for segment sectors with high acquisition value: Firstly, molecular diagnosis, especially in sub - fields such as early cancer screening, MRD detection, and rapid diagnosis of infectious diseases, which will receive high attention; Secondly, key core raw material manufacturers in the upstream of the industrial chain, covering enterprises engaged in the R & D and production of diagnostic antibodies, antigens, enzymes and other products; Thirdly, channels and service providers. These entities have terminal resources such as medical institutions and third - party medical laboratories, which can provide support for product implementation and market expansion.
Deducing the industry's integration logic from the current situation of each segment sector, Wang Qiang said that the continuous and significant decline in industry scale and performance is an established trend. The technical barriers of chemiluminescence are high, the agglomeration effect of market leaders is prominent, and new entrants have no profit space and face the risk of losses once they enter. The competition in the POCT sector has become extremely fierce, and there is a long market cultivation period, so it is also difficult to find better investment opportunities.
Need to 'walk on multiple legs' to broaden the growth path
Currently, the IVD industry has bid farewell to the extensive business model and entered a new stage of intensive cultivation and coordinated layout of the industrial chain ecosystem. Optimizing resource allocation through mergers and acquisitions, eliminating backward production capacity, and forming a cluster of leading enterprises has become an inevitable path for the industry to move towards a new stage.
Wang Qiang mentioned to a reporter from the Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily that from the evaluation dimension of the 'buyer', whether the product line of the'seller' can complement its existing business and generate synergistic effects is an important consideration standard.
Regarding Guangyao Group's acquisition of the control rights of Da'an Gene, some market analysts believe that there is strong synergy between the two at the business level. Guangyao Group's accumulation in pharmaceutical manufacturing, health industry and other aspects can form a closed - loop industrial chain of 'diagnosis + treatment + health management' with Da'an Gene. It is expected to layout the C - end market based on scenarios such as chronic disease detection and health screening, and reduce the business's dependence on in - hospital detection channels.
Sinopharm Group's acquisition of Aide Biotechnology is regarded as an important supplement and improvement to its full - scale health industrial chain format, and can form a coordinated layout of 'drug + diagnosis' with its existing pharmaceutical business.
Under the overall pressure of the industry, in addition to relying on mergers and acquisitions for development, Wang Qiang believes that if an enterprise wants to become a'survivor' in the segment field after the industry clearance, it must 'walk on multiple legs'.
'Going global' is the 'first leg'. In recent years, many IVD enterprises, including Orient Gene (688298.SH), Mindray Medical (300760.SZ), and Deeray Medical (300396.SZ), have actively increased their layout in overseas markets. They have explored overseas incremental markets through various means such as setting up overseas offices, applying for international certifications, building overseas distribution networks, and arranging local production, so as to hedge the operating pressure brought by the pressure on domestic business and create a second growth curve.
“For domestic IVD enterprises, going global is no longer an optional development path, but a necessary option for long - term survival and continuous growth.” Wang Qiang said.
Exploring the segment field market is the'second leg'. Some IVD enterprises have begun to jump out of the mainstream detection sectors with fierce homogeneous competition and turned to layout more high - barrier segment detection directions. They rely on differentiated products to open up market space and avoid the centralized procurement price war. For example, Dana Biotechnology focuses on fungal detection, and the market share of the respiratory '6 + X' rapid nucleic acid detection scheme for out - patient and emergency departments of St. Xiang Biotechnology (688289.SH) has long been among the top in the industry.
At the same time, some enterprises are also conducting horizontal expansion. For example, they are deeply cultivating grass - roots medical institutions and county - level medical markets, and launching portable detection solutions suitable for grass - roots scenarios. Some enterprises are also laying out out - of - hospital markets such as pet diagnosis and home self - testing, and relying on the original mature detection technology for rapid transformation and implementation. For example, the home self - testing product line of Wantai Bio (300482.SZ) has achieved full - scenario coverage of 'infectious disease prevention and control + chronic disease management + pre - pregnancy and prenatal care + health screening'.
Vertical business extension is the 'third leg'. That is, to layout new business sectors in addition to the main business. Previously, Hotgen Biotech (688068.SH) cut into the innovative drug sector by controlling several pharmaceutical companies such as Shunjing Medicine and Yujing Medicine, and once became a big - bull stock in the innovative drug sector in 2025.
“The macro - environment is irresistible. In this situation, enterprises should take the initiative to actively broaden the business coverage map. Only by expanding the business boundaries can they dig out more profit - growth points and long - term development opportunities. If an enterprise adheres to a single segment sector for a long time, its operation will face significant uncertainty and potential risks.” Wang Qiang said.
This article is from the WeChat official account “Science and Technology Innovation Board Daily”, author: Shi Shiyun. Republished by 36Kr with authorization.