China’s Jiangsu Aidea eyes Hong Kong IPO as gateway to US, European Aids markets

Jiangsu Aidea Pharmaceutical, which develops anti-HIV and Aids treatments, plans to tap Hong Kong’s initial public offering (IPO) market as it sets its sights on expansion into the US and Europe in the coming years, an executive said. The company, listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s Star Market, described Hong Kong as a “good window” for going global, citing the city’s “flexible” fundraising environment. Many Chinese corporations – including those in the pharmaceutical sector – would consider Hong Kong’s IPO market amid tightening measures on refinancing for A-share companies, according to Liu Yan, director, board secretary and chief financial officer of Jiangsu Aidea, noting that Hong Kong’s IPO market had a record performance last year. “Europe and the US are where Chinese pharmaceutical companies would like to go if they want to be internationalised,” Liu said at a meeting on Wednesday with Hong Kong media in Yangzhou city in China’s eastern Jiangsu province, where the company is based. “I think going through Hong Kong to reach out to the global market is a good choice.” Jiangsu Aidea has not yet confirmed a sponsor and bookrunner for its potential listing, but Liu said the company had already started communicating with Hong Kong’s drug regulator about its Aids drugs. The company currently focuses on the domestic market, and expects the sector for Aids treatments to surpass 10 billion yuan (US$1.45 billion) in 2027, up from the 1.74 billion yuan in 2017. “We’re targeting to develop products such as second-generation HIV integrase strand transfer inhibitors that US companies also produce,” said Liu, adding that Jiangsu Aidea would, moving forward, become the first Chinese Aids-related pharmaceutical firm to begin early clinical work of certain products in the US. “We’ve just announced in March a financing plan totalling 1.2 billion yuan, 70 per cent of which will be used in the US clinical project.” Chinese-made Aids drugs were just as good as US products, Liu said, as they had proved effective in suppressing the virus and eliminating some side effects such as high blood lipids. Amid global competition, Liu said she looked forward to seeing Chinese Aids pharmaceutical companies become front-runners in the world market. “The advantage of China is that we’re efficient, which means the overall cost is low,” she said. “That’s why many multinationals like working with Chinese partners at the initial stage of drug development.” Jiangsu Aidea recorded revenues for Aids drugs of 150 million yuan in 2024, up from 73.58 million yuan in 2023 and 33.5 million yuan in 2022, according to company figures.