Innovative drugs go global with a surge + risk aversion sentiment intensifies, Menova hits the daily limit

AI Inquiry · Surge in Overseas Transactions for Innovative Drugs: Is the Industry’s Profit Turning Point Near?

On March 24, the CRO and innovative drug sectors saw an early rally, with Mannose Pharma (603538.SH) hitting the daily limit, Jinkai Shengke (301509.SZ) rising over 10%, and BiaoAo SaiTu (688796.SH), Baihua Medicine (600721.SH), RuiZhi Medicine (300149.SZ), Haitai Biotech (300683.SZ), and WuXi AppTec (603259.SH) also gaining.

According to recent news, on March 23, Mannose Pharma’s investor relations record showed that all 28 participants completed the human trial of the JH389 non-pharmacological GLP-1 weight loss project with zero dropouts, averaging a weight loss of 2.5kg and fat reduction of 2.2kg. The European safety assessment is nearing completion, and the company will submit EFSA registration after collaboration with Italian partners. The company is focusing on two disease areas in the small nucleic acid track: metabolic diseases—0201 project (dual-target, for NASH, liver delivery); and obstructive pulmonary disease—two projects (U-creation target 0203, and a fourth single-target project). Meanwhile, the core team is making breakthroughs in delivery technology, and there is also a small molecule PROTAC project (cancer treatment, in preclinical development).

Additionally, the overseas licensing transaction volume for domestic innovative drugs has exploded, with total overseas licensing rights reaching $52.9 billion in 2024, and further increasing in 2025. As domestic pharmaceutical R&D capabilities improve, license-out has become the industry mainstream, driving a profit turnaround and becoming a key investment theme in the pharmaceutical sector.

In the past two weeks (March 9–22, 2026), public fund research shows that companies in the pharmaceutical and tech sectors, represented by Lanfang Medical and Hailianxun, hosted visits from over 40 funds, making them some of the most closely watched research targets recently.

Open Source Securities states that overall, we remain optimistic about innovative drugs and their industry chain (CXO + research services), as well as emerging strategic industries like AI, brain-computer interfaces, and biological manufacturing. With the upcoming Q1 2026 earnings season, the innovative industry chain is expected to continue its upward performance trend, with preclinical CRO contract growth likely to accelerate. This is a key focus area.

HuaFu Securities believes that the external environment remains unstable this week, and pharmaceuticals may be one of the safe-haven options worth allocating to. In the short term, the main focus may be on segments with good share structure, especially those with price increases or better-than-expected earnings. In the medium to long term, we still favor technological innovation as the clearest mainline for pharma in 2026, with the industry leading in science and strong growth in medical devices.