For the last few years, Hong Kong has been the preferred financial hub for many Chinese health care companies to go public and raise money from global investors. “Biotechnology is today the fastest-growing IPO market segment,” said Nicolas Aguzin, CEO of HKEX, during the Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Ltd. (HKEX) Biotech Summit 2021.
China’s ongoing efforts to tighten regulations across the board is hitting medical device companies. Two companies that issued shares in Hong Kong for the first time over the past week saw their shares tumble right out of the gate. Acotec Scientific Holdings Ltd. (HK: 6669) shares fell more than 25% on their first trading day on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Aug. 24 amid regulatory changes in China’s health care industry.
Shanghai Heartcare Medical Technology Co. Ltd. shares took a hard fall in their Aug. 20 debut on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKSE), closing at HK$129 (US$107.47) after tumbling all the way down to HK$127.8 earlier in the day.
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU) has developed new side-hole polymer optical fiber sensors, which can be used in multiple medical treatments without the drawbacks of other optical fibers used in the past. The biocompatible plastic sensors are humidity insensitive, supple and shatter-resistant. This means they can be used in various medical settings, ranging from surgical instrumentation, diagnostics to imaging equipment and sensor-based medical devices.
China’s Center for Drug Evaluation has released the guideline on developing oncology drugs with a clinical value-oriented approach, part of its ongoing efforts to encourage the development of truly innovative oncology drugs in China.
Brii Biosciences Ltd. raised HK$2.482 billion (US$319 million) in its IPO in Hong Kong and will use the proceeds to support the development of its key assets, which includes programs for hepatitis B virus (HBV), HIV and drug-resistant infections.
Prenetics Ltd. is working with Oxford University researchers again to develop molecular diagnostic testing for the new COVID-19 variants, six months after it acquired Oxsed Ltd., a University of Oxford University spinoff to enable rapid airport testing. On April 19, Hong Kong-based Prenetics inked a multimillion-dollar partnership with the University of Oxford and Oxford Suzhou Center for Advanced Research (OSCAR) to upgrade the molecular testing technology Oxlamp for infectious diseases.
HONG KONG – A professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) claims that retinal eye scanning can help to improve early detection of autism and treatment outcomes for children. Benny Zee, a professor at CUHK, has developed a method to identify children at risk of autism and get them into treatment programs sooner.
HONG KONG – Shortly after Australia’s recent provisional approval for the mRNA-based COVID-19 vaccine Comirnaty (tozinameran), originally developed by Pfizer Inc. and Biontech SE, Hong Kong has approved it, too, for emergency use ahead of rivals developed in mainland China. It is the first vaccine to be approved in the Chinese territory, made possible through a collaboration between Biontech and Shanghai Fosun Pharmaceutical Group Co. Ltd.
