Fosun International’s proposed buyout of its partially owned subsidiary, Shanghai Henlius Biotech, has been quashed, with the necessary threshold of Henlius’ shareholders not voting in favor of the deal.

Chinese conglomerate Fosun’s pharma division, Shanghai Fosun Pharma, laid out the takeover plan in June, offering to buy the remaining Henlius shares that it didn't already own for 5.4 billion Hong Kong dollars (about $693 million).

Henlius already operates as a subsidiary of Fosun Pharma, which is a controlling shareholder with a 59.56% stake in the Shanghai-based biopharma company.

The shareholder vote on Jan. 22 did not pass in accordance with the terms, meaning the merger will not go through, the companies announced in a joint filing on Hong Kong's stock exchange.

Without the merger, Henlius will still act as Fosun Pharma’s “key platform” for antibody technology, while Fosun will “continue to support the group in deepening its innovative R&D," according to the filing.

Under the proposal, Fosun fought to fully absorb Henlius and take the company private.

Henlius, founded in 2010, has so far launched six products in China, including a biosimilar of Roche’s oncology blockbuster Rituxan, which was the first biosimilar approved in China and the first China-made biosimilar approved in Europe. 

Elsewhere, the company won FDA approval in September for its Accord-partnered Herceptin biosimilar Hercessi and is awaiting a decision on its Organon-partnered biosimilar of Amgen’s bone drugs Prolia and Xgeva.

In its innovative portfolio, the Fosun subsidiary is angling for an FDA approval of serplulimab, which would be the first PD-1 inhibitor cleared to treat patients with first-line small cell lung cancer. The drug already boasts an orphan drug designation in the indication and is the hallmark of Henlius’ pivot to becoming an innovative drugmaker. 

In its 2023 fiscal year, the company pulled down RMB 5.39 billion ($740 million) in sales and recorded a net profit of RMB 54 million ($7.4 million), marking its first profitable year.