Brii Biosciences shares surge after launching China’s first domestically developed Covid-19 drug

Hong Kong-listed Brii Biosciences jumped as much as 30 per cent after it announced the commercial launch of its Covid-19 drug
Launch of China’s first home-grown Covid-19 medication – Brii-196/Brii-198 – comes amid a flare-up in cases on the mainland

Hong Kong stock market

Iris Ouyangin Shenzhen

Published: 3:30pm, 7 Jul 2022

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Brii Biosciences jumped by the most in three months on Thursday, after the Hong Kong-listed biotech company announced the commercial launch of China’s first domestically developed Covid-19 drug.

Brii co-developed the Covid-19 monoclonal neutralising antibody therapy – Brii-196/Brii-198 – with Tsinghua University and the Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen.

The drug, which is administered intravenously, has been approved by China’s National Medical Products Administration to treat adults and some children who are at high risk of developing severe Covid-19. The cocktail treatment showed an 80 per cent reduction in hospitalisation and deaths compared with a placebo in non-hospitalised patients, according to the company.

Monoclonal antibodies are laboratory-made molecules that serve as substitute antibodies. They help stop the spread of the virus and are especially vital for patients with low levels of immunity and with other serious underlying diseases such as cancer. Antibody therapies manufactured by firms such as AstraZeneca and Eli Lilly have already been approved for emergency use in the US.

Vials of the Covid-19 antibody drug jointly developed by Tsinghua University, Third People’s Hospital of Shenzhen and Brii Biosciences. Photo: AP Photo

Brii’s stock jumped as much as 30 per cent to HK$11.50. The shares eventually closed 11.8 per cent higher at HK$9.87, the biggest gain since a 17.8 per cent jump on March 30 this year. The broader Hong Kong market meanwhile closed up 0.3 per cent, after slipping earlier to its lowest level in two weeks.

TSB Therapeutics (Beijing), a joint venture company majority owned by Brii, released the first commercial batch of the drug on Thursday.

“We’re proud to bring the first locally discovered and approved Covid-19 treatment in China to patients in need with the support and guidance of relevant government authorities,” Yongqing Luo, the president and general manager for Greater China at Brii and CEO of TSB Therapeutics (Beijing), said in an exchange filing.

He added that the company’s priority was “to protect people’s lives” and distribute the drug in China to patients who need it the most.

Brii CEO and co-founder Hong Zhi had told the South China Morning Post in December that the company expected to receive the regulatory go-ahead to launch the medication in this year’s first quarter.

The commercial use of the first home-grown Covid-19 medication in China comes as the country is grappling with flare-ups of infections in a number of regions including its most developed cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, as well as Xian, the capital of Shaanxi province in central China.

A domestic drug is crucial in the country’s battle against the pandemic amid Beijing’s zero Covid policy, as economic growth has been hammered by frequent lockdowns and restrictions.

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