HK Stock Market Move | HENLIUS (02696) rose over 6% as the company approved a stock incentive plan. Institutions point to its huge potential in the development of innovative drugs.

HENLIUS (02696) rose more than 6%, with a 6.47% increase to 53.5 Hong Kong dollars as of the time of writing, with a turnover of 56.0469 million Hong Kong dollars. On the news front, on June 27th, HENLIUS announced that the board of directors approved the adoption of a stock option plan and restricted stock unit plan (subject to shareholder approval). According to the announcement, the board conditionally granted a total of 6.985 million stock options and 698.5 restricted stock units to 279 participants. The initial grants include 75,000 stock options and 75,000 restricted stock units to Executive Director and CEO Dr. Zhu Jun. Furthermore, HENLIUS recently announced that its PD-L1 ADC (HLX43) has completed the dosing of the first subject in an international multicenter Phase II clinical study (HLX43-NSCLC201) in advanced non-small cell lung cancer patients in China, becoming the first PD-L1 ADC to enter Phase II clinical trials globally. Zhongyin International stated that HENLIUS has the potential to grow from a profitable biosimilar company to a leading enterprise in the biologics sector, with good clinical data performance in multiple innovative drugs under development such as HLX43, HLX22, and Serplulimab. Therefore, the target price has been raised from 20.33 Hong Kong dollars to 61.98 Hong Kong dollars, maintaining a "buy" rating. The bank believes that HENLIUS is actively expanding its global biosimilar business through collaborations with pharmaceutical companies, with strong commercial performance of "Han Quyou" (Trastuzumab) and Serplulimab. The marketing license applications for HLX14 and HLX11 are currently under FDA review, and the bank believes they can open up overseas revenue sources.