Shares of METIS TECHBIO-P (07666) climbed more than 9% in early Hong Kong trading, extending a rally that has pushed the stock up over 35% across the past three sessions. At the time of writing, the stock was up 7.18% to HK$18.65, with turnover reaching HK$115 million.

On the news front, on September 18, ten government departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly released the "15th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Industry Development." This key policy document designates AI-driven drug development as a priority task within the pharmaceutical industry's five-year plan, explicitly calling for "deepening AI-enabled upgrades" and featuring a dedicated section on "Cultivating High-Value Application Scenarios for AI Drug Development."

Currently, AI drug development is in an upward cycle driven by a dual engine — new external capital entering the industry and increased R&D budgets from within the pharmaceutical sector. Within the industry, major multinational corporations like Eli Lilly are consistently broadening their use of AI across drug discovery, preclinical research, and the broader R&D pipeline, while Anthropic has launched its own biology lab to push forward AI-based drug research projects.

Adding to this backdrop, the world's first clinically validated mRNA-based therapeutic cancer vaccine has confirmed both the viability and the commercial value of mRNA technology for cancer treatment. In this context, the market is increasingly recognizing METIS TECHBIO-P's NanoForge platform, which combines mRNA tumor vaccine R&D capabilities with its role as a key "shovel seller" in LNP delivery technology.

Worth noting, the company is advancing on two fronts with both platform collaborations and product licensing deals. Through its OpenCGT initiative, it is further offering its AiLNP capabilities to partners in cell and gene therapy, with the total potential transaction value of related collaborations surpassing RMB 6 billion.