On September 18, A-share and Hong Kong-listed healthcare stocks continued their upward trajectory, with AI-driven drug development leading the charge. The Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare Thematic Index, which boasts nearly 70% AI-pharma exposure, saw intraday gains of up to 3% before closing 1.83% higher. The tracking ETF, Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare ETF Huabao (159137), successfully reclaimed its 20-day moving average, positioning itself above all key technical indicators.

In terms of constituent stocks, GenScript Biotech, a key "picks-and-shovels" player in AI drug development, surged another 5.7% after jumping 14% the previous day, hitting a fresh three-year high. XtalPi Holdings, a pure-play AI pharma stock, skyrocketed 16.32%. The AI+CRO model drew significant attention, with Joinn Laboratories climbing 10.15%. AI healthcare concepts also remained active, as JD Health and Alibaba Health both advanced over 4%.

On the news front, a wave of positive developments has bolstered AI pharma. Following three major events on September 16—Eli Lilly's TuneLab partnering with GenScript, Novo Nordisk teaming up with Anthropic, and ByteDance's AI pharma unit securing independent funding—XtalPi announced on September 18 that its wholly-owned subsidiary, LCC Technologies, had entered into a drug discovery collaboration agreement with Stanford University. In the AI healthcare space, Ant Group's health platform revealed at the Bund Conference on September 10 that its app had reached 150 million users, processing nearly 20 million daily health consultations. On September 9, JD Health unveiled a series of medical AI achievements, upgrading its app to a "National Chief AI Health Assistant" and signing agreements with multiple medical device companies.

Industry advancements are coming thick and fast, and policy has added further fuel. On September 18, China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, along with nine other departments, issued the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Pharmaceutical Industry Development, explicitly calling for "accelerating the AI-driven transformation of drug R&D, diagnostics, and production management paradigms," with a strong emphasis on fostering cross-disciplinary integration between AI, quantum computing, and biomedicine.

CICC noted that AI pharma is transitioning from an "algorithm narrative" to a "clinical realization" phase, with demand for wet lab validation growing rigidly in tandem with increased AI-generated molecular outputs. The firm recommends monitoring AI4S industry progress and beneficiaries. Tianfeng Securities echoed this view, arguing that AI will not replace wet lab experiments but will instead amplify demand for upstream experimental services. The model of "dry lab generating molecules, wet lab validating, and data feeding back to refine algorithms" is poised to become the industry's mainstream paradigm, with upstream "picks-and-shovels" providers likely to benefit first from incremental AI-driven demand and enjoy greater order certainty.

For investors seeking to tap into AI pharma, a high-exposure ETF offers an efficient route. The Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare ETF Huabao (159137) merits attention: it passively tracks the Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare Thematic Index, which holds nearly 70% AI pharma exposure—the highest in the market. The off-exchange feeder fund is available under code 026922.

[Data sources] Public information from the Shanghai, Shenzhen, and Hong Kong stock exchanges, CSI Index, and Hang Seng Index. Weighting data as of August 31, 2026. Institutional views: Tianfeng Medical Yang Song team, September 18, 2026, "Overnight US AI Pharma Stocks Strengthen, Global AI4S Commercialization Accelerates." CICC, September 18, 2026, "AI4S Pharma Catalysts Dense, Industry Enters Realization Phase."

[Note on "Highest AI Pharma Exposure"] AI pharma exposure refers to the weight of constituents within the index that have AI pharma business operations. According to Wind data, the Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare Thematic Index covers 17 AI pharma-related constituents, including pure AI pharma platforms, AI+CRO firms, and innovative drug developers with AI pharma initiatives, with a combined weight of 69.52%—the highest among all investable indices in the market.

[Fee details] For Huabao CSI Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare Thematic ETF feeder fund, subscription fees are 0.30% for amounts under RMB 2 million and RMB 1,000 per transaction for amounts of RMB 2 million or above. Redemption fees for retail investors are 1.50% within 7 days and 0.00% for 7 days or longer. For institutional investors, redemption fees are 1.50% within 7 days, 1.00% from 7 to 30 days, 0.50% from 30 to 180 days, and 0.00% for 180 days or longer. No sales service fee is charged. ETF subscription/redemption agents may charge commissions up to 0.5%. On-exchange trading fees are subject to actual brokerage charges.

[Special note] The fund manager has assessed the risk level of the Hong Kong Stock Connect Healthcare ETF Huabao and its feeder fund as R4 (medium-to-high risk), suitable for aggressive (C4) and above investors.

[Risk disclosure] The index constituents mentioned herein are for display purposes only. Any description of individual stocks does not constitute investment advice of any form, nor does it represent the holdings or trading activity of any fund under the manager's umbrella. Any information appearing in this article, including but not limited to stocks, comments, forecasts, charts, indicators, theories, or any form of expression, is for reference only. Investors are solely responsible for their own investment decisions. Furthermore, any views, analyses, or forecasts in this article do not constitute investment advice to readers, and the publisher assumes no liability for any direct or indirect losses arising from the use of this content. Past performance of other funds managed by the fund manager does not guarantee the performance of this fund, and past performance is not indicative of future results. Fund investment carries risks.