By Jason Chau

Shares of Ascletis Pharma surged Tuesday morning after the Chinese drugmaker said its weight-loss drug performed well in a study.

The stock rose over 24% in Hong Kong to touch a four-month high before pulling back slightly. It is on track for its strongest day of gains since May, outperforming both the Hang Seng Index and the benchmark for biotech stocks, both of which were down more 1%.

Ascletis's rally was sparked by positive results of a U.S. study of ASC30 tablets for obese and overweight patients.

ASC30--Ascletis's contender in the GLP-1 class of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy--showed "statistically significant and clinically meaningful" weight loss in the phase II study, the China-based company said in a filing.

The drug met key endpoints--clinical trial outcomes that help determine efficacy and safety--including reducing cholesterol and blood pressure, Ascletis said Monday.

The firm plans to submit the data to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as it looks to start phase III trials, larger-scale studies that if successful can bring a therapy closer to approval.

Chinese biotech companies have made significant strides in innovation over the past years. That has led to a wave of tie-ups between Chinese firms and international pharma majors, such as Innovent's licensing deal with Japan's Takeda for cancer treatments.

Since 2022, Chinese firms have developed 639 first-in-class drug candidates, said Cui Cui, Jefferies's head of Asia healthcare research. That's up 360% from 2018-2021, and significantly outpaces the growth seen among U.S., EU and Japanese companies, she said.

There has been strong interest in the weight-loss drug segment in particular, with Chinese firms signing a flurry of out-licensing deals on obesity drugs with global pharma companies.

"The intense interest reflects the huge market for next-gen obesity therapies, and Chinese firms have become valuable sources of such candidates," Cui said in a note.

She expects obesity drug launches and partnerships to be a key growth driver of Chinese healthcare companies in 2026.

Write to Jason Chau at jason.chau@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2025 01:24 ET (06:24 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2025 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.