Ascletis Pharma-B (01672) saw its shares climb more than 4% in afternoon trading. At the time of writing, the stock was up 3.85%, trading at HK$13.76, with a turnover of HK$12.1855 million.

The company announced that the first patient has been dosed in its US Phase II clinical trial for ASC30, an oral small-molecule glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist intended for the treatment of type 2 diabetes.

The trial plans to enroll approximately 100 patients with type 2 diabetes across multiple centers in the United States.

Ascletis Pharma plans to announce the primary data from this 13-week Phase II study in the third quarter of 2026.

Dr. Jinzi J. Wu, Founder, Chairman, and CEO of Ascletis Pharma, stated, "Expanding the clinical development of ASC30 into the vast diabetes treatment market is the logical next step. This provides us with another opportunity to demonstrate ASC30's potential best-in-class profile as a once-daily oral treatment. We look forward to sharing the primary Phase II data for diabetic patients in the third quarter of 2026."