Quick Take: Hong Kong Bourse Assembles Biotech Advisory Panel

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange has assembled a 13-person biotech advisory panel, which includes regulators, academics, and representatives from the pharmaceutical industry.

The move follows the exchange’s recent lowering of the listing threshold for the sector.

The panel was established by the bourse “to assist in its review of listing applications from biotech firms applying under the new regime,” the exchange said in a statement.

The bourse amended its rules on the last day of April to allow the listing of pre-profit biotech companies on the main board. However, understanding companies in such a technical industry requires sophisticated, specific knowledge.

The advisers, appointed for an initial term of two years with an annual honorarium of HK$80,000 ($10,190), will provide expertise on certain aspects of prospectus disclosure and policy recommendations, the stock exchange said.

The 13 members include Samantha Du, a Pfizer veteran who co-founded biopharmaceutical startup Zai Lab; and Victoria Elegant, the regional medical business head of U.S. biopharma giant Amgen Inc.

Also named as board members are government officials such as He Ruyi, who worked for the top drug regulators in China and the U.S. for 20 years; academics, including health care professor Gabriel Leung from the University of Hong Kong; and investment experts like Ho Maykin, a former Goldman Sachs adviser for global health care investment banking.

“This knowledge and expertise will help the Exchange to determine the suitability of biotech applicants and their compliance with the relevant disclosure requirements with the goal of maintaining our high standards of investor protection,” said David Graham, the stock exchange’s chief regulatory officer and head of listing.

Contact reporter Coco Feng (renkefeng@caixin.com)