What Do The Top Ten Biopharma IPOs Of 2025 Tell Us?

The year 2025 represented a remarkable chapter for innovative drug initial public offerings. Across Hong Kong and mainland exchanges, nearly twenty biopharmaceutical companies completed listings, collectively raising close to HKD 30 billion, with more than half of the issuers still reporting losses. Beneath this apparent boom, however, the market revealed a highly uneven recovery: some companies secured landmark financing, others were driven to extreme valuations by investor fervor, and a number quietly fell below their offer prices and faded. Identical listing events produced markedly different outcomes.

This surge prompts several questions: does the current wave mark the start of a durable trend or the crest of a cyclical peak? Can the market continue to absorb such a dense pipeline of biopharma listings? Which companies possess the resilience to navigate cycles and emerge as broadly recognized winners? Several of this year’s headline IPOs offer partial answers.

Largest Fundraising — Insilico Medicine
Hong Kong led global IPO fundraising in 2025, and Insilico Medicine, positioned as the first AI‑driven drug developer to list, raised approximately HKD 2.3 billion, the largest biotech IPO on the Hong Kong market this year. Unlike prior AI‑drug narratives that were largely conceptual, Insilico entered the market with tangible pipeline assets. Its lead candidate, Rentosertib, is among the fastest‑advancing AI‑designed small molecules worldwide and is in Phase III trials for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. The company’s Pharma.AI platform has produced more than 20 assets at clinical or IND stages, enabling pre‑listing revenue and narrowing losses. Broadening collaborations and strategic diversification beyond AI drug discovery helped Insilico secure substantial capital and achieve a roughly 30% first‑day gain despite a softer market backdrop.

Sentiment Inflection Point — InnoCare Biotech
Where Insilico represented capital scale, InnoCare Biotech signaled a shift in investor sentiment. When it listed on April 15, the stock jumped 116% on debut and raised HKD 1.555 billion, setting multiple records for 18A listings since 2022. The offering recorded the largest financing in nearly four years for 18A issuers, a post‑IPO valuation more than triple the last private round, international placement oversubscription exceeding 14 times, and 15 cornerstone investors including major long‑term global and domestic funds. This success rapidly energized demand for 18A listings and triggered a wave of filings; in November alone, eleven 18A companies disclosed Hong Kong IPO prospectuses.

First Dual A+H Biopharma Listing — Hengrui Medicine
The A+H listing model deepened in 2025, with nineteen companies completing dual listings. Hengrui Medicine became the first biopharma to finalize A+H listings, raising nearly RMB 10 billion as part of its internationalization strategy. From an industry perspective, Hengrui’s move reflected an accelerated transformation following BeiGene’s market‑value overtake in February, driven by international progress for Brukinsa and tislelizumab. Hengrui has since intensified partnership efforts, pursued a Hong Kong listing and embraced new discovery platforms. Its dual listing set a precedent that encouraged other pharmaceutical groups to consider A+H structures or spin‑offs, exemplified by Zhejiang Medicine’s plan to list NewMed Biotech in Hong Kong.

First Listing Under Reopened STAR Market Standard V — Heyuan Biotech
The STAR Market’s fifth listing standard, designed for high‑growth but unprofitable technology firms, was reinstated in June after a suspension. On October 28, Heyuan Biotech became the first company to list under the revived standard and one of the initial cohort on the STAR growth tier. Heyuan’s innovation centers on a rice‑based recombinant protein expression system, and its lead product HY1001 (recombinant human albumin injection) received approval in July 2025. HY1001 addresses a clinical market historically constrained by plasma supply, offering substantial growth potential. The standard’s reopening signaled regulatory willingness to support technology‑intensive biopharma listings even before profitability, mirroring the renewed openness seen in Hong Kong’s 18A channel.

Most Extreme Performance — Pharmaron Health
Pharmaron Health emerged as the most extreme example among 18A IPOs. The stock recorded year‑to‑date gains exceeding 800%, briefly approaching a market capitalization near HKD 270 billion. The dramatic rise was driven largely by extreme scarcity of freely tradable shares: of 397 million total shares, 96.2% were locked, and the global IPO issued only 15.28 million shares, leaving roughly 5.49 million shares available for trading. Limited float allowed relatively modest buying pressure to propel valuations to extraordinary levels. Fundamentally, however, the company’s lead asset Tinengotinib had only reached Phase III for a single indication, and the molecule’s novel target combination left its ultimate therapeutic viability uncertain. The subsequent rapid collapse—one trading day saw a 53.7% decline and more than HKD 190 billion in market value evaporated—provided a stark lesson on speculative excess.

Highest Oversubscription — Zhonghui Biotech
Oversubscriptions above 100 times were common in 2025, but Zhonghui Biotech’s public offering achieved an exceptional 4,006.64 times oversubscription for its retail tranche, ranking it among the most heavily subscribed biotech listings of the year. In a vaccine sector facing headwinds and cautious capital, Zhonghui’s differentiated commercial positioning and realized revenue underpinned investor demand. Its core product, Huierkangxin, commercialized in 2023 as the country’s first approved quadrivalent influenza subunit vaccine, is pursuing overseas registrations. The company also maintains a pipeline of more than ten vaccine candidates across indications such as monkeypox, shingles and rabies.

Largest Subscription Amount — Weilizhibo
Weilizhibo set a record for subscription value when its offering drew approximately HKD 330 billion in application funds on July 22, the largest single‑issue subscription total of the year. The company’s PD‑L1/4‑1BB bispecific candidate LBL‑024 demonstrated promising single‑agent and combination activity across multiple tumor types, earning breakthrough therapy designation from China’s NMPA and orphan‑drug status from the U.S. FDA for neuroendocrine cancers. The record subscription occurred at the market’s peak of enthusiasm, affording Weilizhibo an opportunity to secure substantial financing ahead of sentiment normalization.

Largest First‑Day Gain — Yinno Pharma
Yinno Pharma posted the strongest first‑day performance among biotech IPOs, surging more than 200% on debut. The company benefited from the broader rally in innovative therapeutics and intense investor interest in weight‑loss drug concepts. Domestic GLP‑1 developers experienced dramatic share appreciation during the year, and Yinno’s positioning as a developer of a long‑acting human GLP‑1 candidate captured market attention. Competition in the GLP‑1 space has intensified, and following the initial exuberance Yinno’s share price retraced substantially from HKD 72 at debut to HKD 31.

Sharpest First‑Day Decline — Hans AiTai
Hans AiTai’s steep debut decline illustrated the market’s cooling phase. The company listed on December 23 and fell 46.25% on its first trading day. The weak debut followed a 22% first‑day drop for Huayi Biotech the previous session and reflected a broader pattern of underperformance among recent listings. Contributing factors included heightened regulatory scrutiny of listing materials and sponsor conduct, a surge in IPO supply that diluted liquidity, and adverse market commentary that amplified investor caution.

Largest Annual Decline — Bokang Vision Cloud
Bokang Vision Cloud experienced one of the most pronounced year‑end declines among new listings. The ophthalmology biotech’s shares fell 38.61% on debut and exceeded a 50% decline by year‑end. The company remains pre‑commercial and loss‑making, with lead candidates CBT‑001 and CBT‑009 in Phase III for pterygium and juvenile myopia. Upcoming lock‑up expirations for cornerstone investors in January 2026 added further downward pressure on the share price.

Conclusion: The 2025 biopharma IPO wave is reshaping how innovation is priced. Regulatory adjustments, including the STAR Market’s fifth standard and the vibrancy of Hong Kong’s 18A channel, reopened listing pathways for unprofitable but technology‑intensive firms. Capital flows concentrated on frontier areas such as AI‑driven drug discovery, ADCs and GLP‑1 therapies, which more readily attracted funding. Yet listing is not an endpoint: sustained value ultimately depends on clinical progress and commercialization capability. As liquidity fragments and sentiment cools, market discipline will intensify, and the 2026 IPO cohort will face a more rigorous and selective environment.