Hong Kong attracts wave of biotech IPO filings amid AI drug research boom More than 10 loss-making biotechnology companies have filed for Hong Kong stock exchange listings this year, bringing cutting-edge drugs and artificial intelligence-powered drug discovery platforms to market, as the city’s bourse presses ahead with reforms aimed at supporting the real economy. The latest applications came as healthcare and biotechnology equity capital market activity – stock sales by companies and their shareholders – in Hong Kong reached US$15.6 billion last year, the second highest globally and the city’s strongest showing since 2021, according to data compiled by Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX). A pair of AI-powered medical platform firms, Hangzhou Diagens Biotechnology and Exegenesis Bio, also from Hangzhou, are among those seeking initial public offerings (IPOs) amid a wave of investor interest in AI drug platforms globally. The former has cleared Hong Kong’s listing committee hearing and is expected to begin trading shortly. Huatai International is acting as the deal’s sole sponsor. Diagens used an AI-powered medical platform to help doctors detect genetic abnormalities, reducing chromosome analysis time from an average of 30 days to between four and seven days, an exchange filing showed. The digital tool is expected to receive approval from China’s drug regulator in the first quarter of this year. The company plans to expand the platform’s use to blood cancer diagnosis and aims to file for US Food and Drug Administration approval in April. The 10-year-old company reported a net loss of 36.6 million yuan (US$5.3 million) in the first nine months of last year, compared with a net loss of 50.8 million yuan over the same period in the previous year. Exegenesis, which filed for a Hong Kong listing in January, uses machine learning to develop gene-silencing medicines for diseases including chronic pain and Alzheimer’s. One of its lead candidates, EXG001-307 – a single-dose gene therapy for spinal muscular atrophy, a rare and often fatal muscle-wasting disease in infants – was developed using the company’s proprietary AI platform and had completed a phase 3 trial in China, its exchange filing said. CCB International Capital is acting as the sole sponsor for Exegenesis’ listing. The seven-year-old company reported a net loss of 94.33 million yuan for the first nine months of 2025. “Many of the new healthcare start-ups funded globally had an AI or digital health component,” said David Lau, head of Asia healthcare investment banking at J.P. Morgan, during the bank’s annual healthcare conference in January. “Investors are prioritising scalable, tech-enabled solutions that can deliver both clinical and economic value.” Other pre-profit novel drug makers in the queue include the Suzhou-based Immvira Bioscience, which develops oncolytic virus immunotherapies that use engineered viruses to attack tumours and activate the immune system; Shenzhen Immunofoco Biotechnology, which is advancing CAR-T cell therapies for solid tumours; and Suzhou Genhouse Bio, which is developing oral small-molecule drugs that target the RAS signalling pathway. On January 9, Suzhou Ribo Life Science, a leading small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapeutics developer listed in Hong Kong, raised more than HK$1.83 billion (US$233 million) and attracted more than 10 cornerstone investors including Taikang Life Insurance and China Asset Management. “The emerging siRNA boom could unlock the next leg of growth for China biotech – hence, substantial investor enthusiasm is expected for these IPOs,” said Cui Cui, head of healthcare research for Asia at Jefferies, in a research note. HKEX is also moving to ease listing barriers to support the momentum. Last week, HKEX published a consultation paper proposing to lower the minimum valuation threshold for companies seeking listings with weighted voting rights – dual-class share structures favoured by founder-led biotechnology and technology companies – from HK$40 billion to HK$20 billion, and to extend confidential filing. More than 100 companies were preparing to list under Chapter 18A and Chapter 18C, the exchange’s listing regimes for pre-revenue biotechs and high-growth technology firms, said HKEX CEO Bonnie Chan Yiting in late February. https://www.scmp.com/business/banking-finance/article/3346710/hong-kong-attracts-wave-biotech-ipo-filings-amid-ai-drug-boom?pgtype=live (ICE HONG KONG)

Fonte notizia: South China Morning Post