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.
Biopharmas in Asia-Pacific raising money in public or private financings, including: Bone Therapeutics, Connect Biopharmaceuticals, Opthea, Rnaimmune, Sirnaomics.
Privately held Alzheon Inc. picked up a $47 million grant from the NIH’s National Institute on Aging that will last over five years to support a phase III clinical trial of its oral brain-penetrant small molecule ALZ-801 to treat Alzheimer’s disease.
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.
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.
Biopharmas in Asia-Pacific raising money in public or private financings, including: Anheart, Curevac, Myovant Sciences, Sumitomo Dainippon, Taiwan Ministry of Health and Welfare, Tiziana Life Sciences, Transgene, Tasly, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
HONG KONG – Looking to boost its R&D capacity, China’s Sunshine Guojian Pharmaceutical (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. launched an IPO on July 22 that raised ¥1.7 billion (US$240 million) on Shanghai’s STAR market. Shares (SSE:688336) almost doubled in value on the first day of trading, closing at ¥54.10, for a gain of 92%.
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