While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought disruptions to R&D, market activities in the biopharmaceutical sector have remained active during the first half of this year in China. Venture capital investments, IPOs and partnering activity showed upward trends, except for M&A activity, which has declined for two years.

Ever since the Hong Kong Stock Exchange (HKEX) overhauled its listing rules to welcome pre-revenue biotech companies in April 2018, Hong Kong has become the largest biotech fundraising hub in Asia, and the second largest in the world after Nasdaq, HKEX executives said Tuesday at the bourse’s biotech summit. The biotech IPO pipeline continues to grow and pre-revenue companies are more accepted into the city’s financial system.

Cansino Biologics Inc. launched its second pre-revenue share offering on Aug. 13, reaping ¥5.2 billion ($749 million) from Shanghai’s STAR market. Trading under the ticker 688185, its shares surged 87.5% to close at ¥393 on the first trading day. The company, currently developing 16 vaccine candidates for 13 infectious diseases, has grabbed headlines this year for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate, Ad5-nCoV, which is due to enter phase III trials in Saudi Arabia shortly.

Out of 922 biopharma financings so far in 2020, nearly a quarter of them – 211 – were done by companies working on a COVID-19 therapeutic or vaccine.

HONG KONG – Venture capital investment into most sectors in China has generally plunged throughout the COVID-19 pandemic but biotechnology has been a noticeable exception. China’s biotech industry has continued to attract investors, not only because of its importance in dealing with the pandemic but also as a result of increased maturity and a growing list of government incentives.