HK Stock Market Move | AKESO (09926) rose over 4% in the morning, continuing the trend of new pharmaceutical companies expanding overseas at the beginning of the year. The internationalization milestone of AK112 is approaching.

AKESO (09926) rose by more than 4% in the morning session, as of the time of writing, it was up 4.13% to 59.3 Hong Kong dollars with a trading volume of 145 million Hong Kong dollars. BOCOM INTL released a research report stating that Chinese innovative pharmaceutical companies are continuing to seize the opportunity to expand internationally in the new year. INNOVENT BIO and many other companies have successfully authorized innovative drug assets to multinational pharmaceutical companies or through NewCo forms to go international. The bank believes that international expansion is still one of the biggest highlights of the innovative pharmaceutical sector in 2025, and more major transactions are worth looking forward to. Combined with the continuous creation of funding space for innovative drug varieties in medical insurance payment, the continuous introduction of favorable policies in fiscal, medical insurance/commercial insurance, and valuations still at historical lows, the bank believes that there is still a significant room for recovery in the sector. The bank specifically recommends potential beneficiaries of the following policies, including AKESO. Zhongtai pointed out that the international milestone of AK112 is approaching, and HARMONi (AK112 combined with third-generation EGFR-TKI treatment for locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous NSCLC with EGFR mutations after progression) is expected to read out top-line data by mid-2025, at which time AK112 will move towards the BLA stage in overseas markets. In addition, according to company announcements, AK104 and AK112 have successfully entered into medical insurance negotiations, significantly improving patient accessibility. With the approvals and gradual inclusion in medical insurance of subsequent indications, it is expected that the two products will enter a period of accelerated volume growth.