Anti-epidemic stocks moved higher in early trading of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today, with Kintor Pharma-B (Chinese: 开拓药业,09939:HK) and Shandong Xinhua Pharmaceutical (Chinese: 新华制药,00719:HK) leading the rally on the back of thriving R&D of anti-coronavirus drugs.
Shanghai Release (Chinese: 上海发布) reported last night that Shanghai government is investigating the R&D progress of anti-coronavirus drugs developed by TopAlliance Biosciences (Chinese: 君实生物, 01877:HK) and encouraging enterprises to participate in the development of anti-coronavirus drugs to protect human health.
VV116, the anti-COVID-19 drug co-developed by TopAlliance Biosciences and Vigonvita Life Sciences (Chinese: 旺山旺水) has entered Phase III clinical trial globally. The first patient has enrolled in Phase III clinical trial for treating both mild-to-moderate and moderate-to-severe symptoms. The first patient in the Phase III head-to-head clinical trial between VV116 and Paxlovid has enrolled and was already given treatment accordingly in April this year. Sinolink Securities (Chinese: 国金证券) expected that the key clinical data of VV116 will be revealed Q2-Q3 this year.
Kintor Pharma-B's Proxalutamide for COVID-19 patients has also entered Phase III clinical trial.
Genuine Biotech (Chinese: 真实生物)'s Azvudine is another spotlight in the anti-COVID-19 medicine market. China Resources Double Crane Pharmaceutical Company (Chinese: 华润双鹤,600062) recently announced its partnership with Genuine Biotech for the production and marketing of Azvudine. However, Azvudine's clinical trial data has not been published yet and has not been approved by NMPA (National Medical Products Administration) as well.
Simcere Pharmaceutical (Chinese: 先声药业,02096:HK) posted an announcement last night that SIM0417, the anti-epidemic candidate drug co-developed with Shanghai Insitute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Sciences (Chinese: 中国科学院上海药物研究所) and Wuhan Institute of Virology (Chinese: 武汉病毒研究所), has been granted the approval for clinical trials by NMPA for close contacts to COVID-19 positive people as a preventative treatment.
SIM0417 targets 3CL protease for inhibiting the replication of coronavirus and is undergoing clinical trial for COVID-19 cases. According to the completed clinical trials, SIM0417 showed broad-spectrum anti-viral activity, good in vivo pharmacokinetics characteristics and safety.