Shares of LEPU BIO (HKEX: 02157) rose more than 6% in afternoon trading. At the time of writing, the stock was up 4.74% to HK$3.98, with a turnover of HK$41.495 million.

The upward movement follows the release of highly positive Phase I clinical trial data for MRG006A in patients with advanced liver cancer who have failed standard treatments, presented at the 2026 ASCO meeting. MRG006A targets the liver cancer field, a global market where no ADC drug has yet received approval, representing a novel and underexplored therapeutic pathway that has now preliminarily crossed the clinical validation threshold.

This positions MRG006A as a potential first-in-class ADC candidate from China with significant future business development potential.

It is also noteworthy that the company recently announced that its self-developed CDH17-targeting antibody-drug conjugate, MRG007, has had its Investigational New Drug application formally accepted for review by the Center for Drug Evaluation of the National Medical Products Administration.

This acceptance marks a critical milestone in its clinical development for gastrointestinal cancers and holds promise for offering a new treatment option to millions of patients in China with advanced gastrointestinal tumors.