What Tension? U.S. Deal Lifts China Pharma Billionaire’s Shares, Wealth To Record High

So much for U.S.-China tension.

Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group, led by China’s wealthiest pharmaceutical entrepreneur Zhong Huijuan, closed up 4.2% to a record high of HK$39.50 at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange today after the company said it would license a cancer drug to a U.S. firm.

The drug, Amonertinib, will be licensed to start-up EQRx of Cambridge, Massachusetts, with which Hansoh said it has formed a strategic partnership. (See announcement here.)

EQRx, formed earlier this year to help reduce treatment costs, raised $200 million in financing from GV, ARCH Venture Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, and Casdin Capital, Section 32, Nextech and Arboretum Ventures, among others.

The announcement comes only a day after the U.S. ordered China to shut its consulate in Houston amid a sharp deterioration of relations between the two over issues that include geopolitics and intellectual property theft. The Hansoh-EQRx agreement, however, underscores how growing economic ties between the two countries built up since Washington and Beijing formed diplomatic ties four decades ago won’t be easily reversed.

Zhong’s fortune was worth $21 billion on the Forbes Real-Time Billionaires List today.  Zhong, who is also one of the world’s richest women, owns 67% of Hansoh. Cen Junda, another Chinese pharmaceutical industry billionaire, owns 16%.

Hansoh listed at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange last June at HK$14.26; its shares have more than doubled since.

China pharmaceutical, medical equipment and device stocks have been on a tear this year, as the COVID-19 pandemic increases sales and raises global attention on the country’s leading suppliers.

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@rflannerychina