UNITED LAB (03933) saw its shares rise more than 7% during the trading session. At the time of writing, the stock was up 5.62%, trading at HK$13.34, with a turnover of HK$165 million.
Recently, UNITED LAB announced that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Federal Biotech (Zhuhai Hengqin) Co., Ltd., has obtained implied clinical trial approval from China's National Medical Products Administration for its self-developed Class 1 innovative drug UBT251 injection. The approval is for the treatment of moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) comorbid with obesity. As China's first chemically synthesized GLP-1/GIP/GCG triple-target receptor agonist new drug, UBT251 positions the company significantly within the research field of such drugs.
UBS released a research report stating that UNITED LAB is a leading pharmaceutical manufacturer in China with integrated business lines covering intermediate products, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and formulated products. Leveraging decades of research and development expertise in metabolic diseases and strong early-stage clinical results, the company licensed the ex-China rights for UBT251 to Novo Nordisk (NVO.US) in March last year. The agreement includes an upfront payment of $200 million, potential milestone payments of up to $1.8 billion, and tiered sales royalties. The report suggests that the market is underestimating the sales potential of UBT251, as well as the company's broader innovative R&D pipeline.