METIS TECHBIO-P (07666) shares climbed more than 16% during early trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, last changing hands at HK$12.87, representing a 15.74% gain with turnover reaching HK$13.0047 million.

The rally follows the company's announcement that its proprietary AiTEM artificial intelligence drug formulation platform will be deployed locally at Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (600276.SH), aiming to accelerate the efficiency of drug formulation development.

According to the company, the AiTEM platform previously supported the formulation development of METIS TECHBIO's own pipeline candidate MTS-004, cutting the preclinical formulation optimization timeline from the industry average of 1-2 years down to less than 3 months.

CITIC Securities issued a research note stating that Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, as a leading innovative drug company, is embedding the AiTEM technology platform into its core R&D system to address a gap in AI applications for formulation innovation, thereby strengthening the infrastructure of innovative drug R&D.

This partnership marks a critical shift for METIS TECHBIO'S AiTEM platform from an internal pipeline optimization tool to an external commercial product, deepening the company's "platform collaboration + product collaboration" dual-driver business model. The platform's value and commercialization potential are now being unlocked at an accelerated pace.