A terse rebuke — "Get lost, stop bothering me" — hurled by a doctoral director at a journalist seeking verification has thrust Yimufeng, a biotech firm racing toward a Hong Kong IPO, into the media spotlight. Founded by Sun Minmin, an "85后" pharmacology PhD from Fudan University, the company has yet to commercialize any product, has recorded losses for two and a half consecutive years, and its lead candidate, IMC002, still in Phase III trials, has seen a participant death during clinical testing. A routine media inquiry was met with the director's abrasive retort.
The fatality occurred in April 2026. Roughly four months later, on August 18, the company filed its second IPO application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. However, the prospectus (application version) discloses clinical data for this core product only up to December 31, 2025, stating that "IMC002 has demonstrated a favorable safety profile with no treatment-related deaths," without specific disclosure of the April incident.
From a capital markets perspective, this sequence of actions amounts to an unplanned "reverse roadshow." Between the April accident and the August filing, a four-month window passed during which the company made no public announcement of the case, and the prospectus merely listed generic industry risks, preserving the filing timeline. The market does not fear failure or unexpected setbacks in innovative drug development — such uncertainty is inherent to the field — but it does fear companies concealing events and hiding information. When exposed externally, the response showed no reverence for life; instead of engaging constructively, it erupted in anger.
The IPO application phase falls within a quiet period, but that quiet period is not a shield to obscure the truth of major incidents. Hong Kong's IPO quiet period restricts issuers from conducting promotional activities toward securities offerings; it does not require companies to remain silent in the face of public scrutiny, nor does it excuse them from responding to oversight over significant safety events. That single "get lost" laid bare the arrogance of this would-be listing entity. Behind every polished data point in clinical trials lies the health and even the lives of participants; if a drug developer loses its reverence for life while advancing its pipeline, even the most impressive portfolio loses its luster.
The outburst also exposed a "vacancy" in the company's crisis governance. Yimufeng's written statement was, in fact, measured — pledging "to cooperate with ethics assessments and avoid prejudgment" — indicating it knows how to communicate; the problem is no one is guarding the gate of "who speaks." The appropriate figures are absent, while those ill-suited to take the fire are thrust forward. The public relations channel has completely failed, leaving a non-executive director, unskilled in PR, to face the media directly and deliver overtly aggressive remarks.
The director's emotional venting is not merely a lapse of personal conduct; it is a genuine reflection of a broken corporate crisis-response mechanism. Regulators and potential cornerstone investors see not just a harsh word, but the collapse of an entire external communication system when a company faces a major adverse event. The capital market's valuation of biotech firms hinges not only on pipeline data but equally on corporate governance, ethical standards, and risk-management capability.
The core narrative of this company's IPO story extends beyond the clinical promise of IMC002; it is also about whether the founding team, led by a Fudan PhD, can navigate the real-world trials of a participant death, regulatory inquiries, family grievances, and media oversight. R&D investment is costly, but a rash verbal response carries an even heftier price in eroded listing credibility. Media interviews are an extension of the public's right to know. A reprimand may temporarily drive away a reporter, yet it cannot erase what has already happened.
The founder once signed a scientific research ethics self-discipline initiative, pledging to prioritize participant safety above all. When tragedy actually strikes, treating the family with compassion, cooperating with independent investigations, and confronting public questions head-on are the most elemental expressions of that commitment. It is entirely legitimate for an innovative drug company to pursue an IPO and technological breakthroughs, but the prerequisite for listing is upholding a reverence for life and maintaining the bottom line of information transparency.
Yimufeng, through months of silence capped by seconds of rudeness, demonstrated it was ready to compile a prospectus but unprepared to become a public company. An IPO roadshow sells not only a bright future but also the captain's ability to steer through "black swan" events without veering off course. Fifteen days after its filing, Yimufeng paid the dearest tuition for a lesson in accountability. Facing problems squarely remains the only path to rebuilding trust.