Going Global Weekly: Pharma Out-Licensing Deals Land in Succession as the A-Share Hong Kong Listing Pipeline Expands-20261023

Overseas Cooperation

1. HANSOH PHARMA (03692.HK): Announced on October 19 that on October 17 the company entered into a strategic cooperation and licence agreement with Roche (F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd) covering a portfolio of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) programmes, including two preclinical ADC programmes and multiple programmes against targets proposed by Roche and developed on Hansoh's proprietary ADC technology platform; Hansoh will lead early development through completion of global Phase Ia clinical trials, and will receive an upfront payment of USD 400 million and a one-year anniversary payment of USD 110 million, and is eligible to receive potential milestone payments exceeding USD 15 billion and tiered royalties.

2. METIS TECHBIO-P (07666.HK): In a voluntary announcement on October 19, announced a strategic collaboration with Eli Lilly focused on the research and discovery of novel lipid nanoparticle (LNP) delivery solutions to achieve tissue-specific delivery of therapeutic modalities; the company will receive an upfront payment of more than USD 10 million and is eligible to receive development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments of up to approximately USD 1.1 billion in aggregate, as well as single-digit percentage tiered royalties; the collaboration is based on the company's AI-driven ionisable lipid discovery and optimisation platform, AiLNP.

3. HUTCHMED (00013.HK): Announced on October 21 that the exclusive development and licence agreement between its subsidiary Hutchison MediPharma (Shanghai) and an affiliate of GSK plc has completed, under which the latter has acquired the rights to develop and commercialise HMPL-A830 worldwide outside Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan; HUTCHMED expects to receive an upfront payment of USD 110 million in the near term and is eligible to receive up to a further USD 1.185 billion in potential milestone payments and tiered royalties; HMPL-A830 is a first-in-class antibody-targeted conjugate drug (ATTC), and Phase Ia clinical trials in China and the United States were initiated in September.

4. INSILICO (03696.HK): Announced on October 20 that its multi-year AI-driven drug discovery collaboration with Servier has achieved an early drug discovery milestone, with the first R&D programme triggering a milestone payment of an undisclosed amount from Servier; the collaboration, announced in early 2026, has a total value of up to USD 888 million, including USD 32 million in upfront payments, and both of the two independent oncology R&D programmes launched by the parties have completed target nomination.

5. CUTIA-B (02487.HK): Announced on October 21 that it has entered into a supplemental agreement with Hangzhou Guansu to expand the collaboration territory for CU-20401 (recombinant mutant collagenase) from Asia to territories outside Asia, under which both parties have the right to seek third-party partners outside the territory for out-licensing and sub-licensing cooperation, and to strengthen cooperation terms on clinical, regulatory and R&D sharing.

Overseas M&A

1. ORBUSNEICH (06929.HK): Announced on October 20 that on October 15 it completed the acquisition of 100% of the equity interest in Italian distributor MC Health S.r.l., which has become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the group; Italy records about 157,000 PCI procedures each year, and following the acquisition the group will convert its local business to a direct sales model, immediately covering cardiac catheterisation laboratories nationwide and extending its direct sales business to 16 markets worldwide; the seller is an independent third party and all applicable percentage ratios are below 5%.

2. RIBOLIFE (06938.HK): Announced on October 19 that on October 16 it entered into a share exchange agreement with minority shareholders to acquire the remaining 49.71% equity interest in Sweden's Ribocure Pharmaceuticals AB by issuing 14,087,085 consideration shares, achieving full ownership; the appraised value of 100% of the target's equity is SEK 1.997 billion (approximately HKD 1.610 billion), the consideration shares are priced at HKD 56.83 each, a discount of approximately 10.96% to the closing price; the target is the company's international R&D centre, focusing on siRNA drugs in cardiovascular, metabolic and liver-related fields, with five drug discovery and preclinical stage programmes; the transaction constitutes a discloseable transaction and a connected transaction, and the circular is expected to be published on or before December 4.

3. LOPAL TECH (02465.HK): Published an overseas regulatory announcement on October 23 that its second-tier subsidiary LBM (AP) on October 22 entered into a share purchase agreement and a shareholders' agreement with KINETIQ CAPITAL (SG) PTE. LTD. to sell a 76% equity interest in Indonesia's PT LBM ENERGI BARU for USD 31.92 million, which will cease to be consolidated into the group's financial statements after the transaction; the underlying asset is a 90,000-tonne-per-year lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cathode materials plant under construction in Indonesia, and the transaction will enable PT LBM to be recognised as a non-prohibited foreign entity under the rules of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

Overseas Orders and Bid Wins

1. SFQ GLOBAL (01953.HK): In a voluntary announcement on October 21, its subsidiary entered into an engineering, procurement and construction contract for a solar photovoltaic and energy storage system project in the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a total amount of approximately USD 41.4 million, comprising approximately USD 22.3 million for phase one and approximately USD 19.1 million for phase two, with scope covering design, procurement, construction, installation, commissioning, grid connection and maintenance services; the company said it will expand its business regions from Malaysia to other Southeast Asian countries and Africa.

Overseas Projects and Operations

1. ABBISKO-B (02256.HK): Announced on October 21 that lavengratinib (ABSK061), an oral selective small-molecule FGFR2/3 inhibitor, has been granted orphan drug designation by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of achondroplasia; the indication had previously received orphan drug designation and rare paediatric disease designation from the U.S. FDA, and its IND application has been approved by the FDA; the company is advancing a Phase II multicentre dose-escalation study in children with ACH aged 3 to 12, with preliminary data showing positive growth-promoting signals.

2. ASCLETIS-B (01672.HK): Announced on October 23 that strategic partner Sagimet Biosciences has completed dosing of the first patient in AURORA, the pivotal U.S. Phase III clinical trial of denifanstat (ASC40); the trial is being conducted in adults and adolescents aged 12 and above with moderate-to-severe acne, plans to enrol approximately 800 patients in the United States, and is intended to support a potential U.S. new drug application submission; Ascletis holds the rights to develop, manufacture and commercialise the product in Greater China.

3. MABWELL-B (02493.HK): Disclosed on October 19 that Phase II data for 9MW2821, a novel Nectin-4-targeting ADC, in locally advanced or metastatic triple-negative breast cancer previously treated with topoisomerase I inhibitor payload ADCs will be presented as an oral presentation at the 2026 ESMO Congress to be held in Madrid, Spain from October 23 to 27; as of April 10, 2026, among 60 evaluable patients the objective response rate was 30.0%, the disease control rate was 80.0%, and median progression-free survival was 3.7 months.

4. LEADS BIOLABS-B (09887.HK): Disclosed on October 19 that six study abstracts on LBL-024 (Opamtistomig, a PD-L1/4-1BB bispecific antibody) and LBL-034 (a GPRC5D/CD3 bispecific T-cell engager) have been accepted for the 2026 ESMO Annual Meeting, of which three were selected for preferred oral presentations and one as a late-breaking abstract (LBA).

Overseas Financing

1. DSBJ (02384.HK): Published its prospectus on October 20 for a global offering of 113,783,200 H shares, comprising 11,378,400 H shares under the Hong Kong public offering and 102,404,800 H shares under the international offering, at a maximum offer price of HKD 93.80 per share, with a board lot of 100 shares; the Hong Kong public offering runs from 9:00 a.m. on October 20 to noon on October 23, and the H shares are expected to be listed on the Main Board of the Stock Exchange on October 28, with an offer size adjustment option and an over-allotment option of up to 17,067,400 shares each.

2. MICRO-INTELLIGENCE (03275.HK): Published its prospectus on October 20 for a global offering of 37,275,800 H shares at a maximum offer price of HKD 21.46 per share and an expected price of not less than HKD 16.63, with a board lot of 100 shares; the H shares are expected to be listed on October 28, and the international underwriters have been granted an over-allotment option of up to 5,591,300 shares.

3. XINDE SEMICONDUCTOR: Disclosed on October 21 that it has passed the listing hearing for the Main Board of the Stock Exchange, with Huatai Financial Holdings (Hong Kong) Limited acting as sole sponsor; the company is a semiconductor packaging and testing service provider, with revenue rising from RMB 509 million in 2023 to RMB 1.012 billion in 2025, ranking seventh among China's general OSAT companies by 2025 revenue from advanced semiconductor packaging and testing, with a market share of 0.6%.

Overseas Operating Data

1. SF HOLDING (06936.HK): Announced on October 19 its September operating brief, with revenue from the supply chain and international business of RMB 7.884 billion, up 28.13% year on year, saying that it will firmly advance its strategy of being the only Asian integrated logistics player with global coverage and capture the strategic opportunities arising from Chinese companies going global; revenue from the express logistics business in the same period was RMB 20.835 billion, down 0.09%.

NewTimeSpace Going Global Observation

This week's overseas expansion story ran along three main threads. First, out-licensing by innovative pharmaceutical companies and milestone achievements came in quick succession: HANSOH PHARMA and METIS TECHBIO-P each entered into strategic collaborations with multinational pharmaceutical companies, HUTCHMED completed the closing of its licence agreement with GSK, and INSILICO triggered an early milestone payment from Servier. Second, the pipeline of A-share companies listing in Hong Kong continued to expand: DSBJ and MICRO-INTELLIGENCE launched their offerings in the same week and are expected to list on the same day next week. Third, cross-border capital operations shifted from one-way acquisitions to dynamic adjustments based on compliance and efficiency: ORBUSNEICH converted its European business to direct sales by acquiring a local distributor, RIBOLIFE moved to full ownership of its Swedish international R&D centre through a share exchange, and LOPAL TECH sold a controlling stake in its Indonesian subsidiary to meet the entity recognition requirements under a U.S. statute.

This article is for information purposes only and does not constitute any investment advice.