The ongoing Sino-US tensions have limited impacts on CK Life Sciences' (0775) deal with a Nasdaq-listed company for now, as the involved product is all made in the United States to reduce risks, said deputy chairman Alan Abel Yu Ying-choi.
The biotech unit under Hong Kong's homegrown conglomerate CK Hutchison (0001) announced a proposed merger of a wholly-owned subsidiary Polynoma and the Nasdaq-traded TransCode Therapeutics, in which US$125 million (HK$975 million) of new shares to be issued by TransCode and US$25 million of preferred stock financing shares to be purchased by CK Life Sciences.
When asked about the potential geopolitical risks, Yu said the exposure would not be high for now, as Americans discovered and managed the melanoma-targeted vaccine, and US data were used.
In addition, "we are investing US$25 million in a US company," Yu stressed, expecting it to align with the current administration's policies.
But it doesn't mean CK Life Sciences would skip the innovative drugs or technologies from mainland companies, Yu emphasized, as a recent burst of licensing out deals has made China a so-called "supermarket of novel drugs."
Instead, CK Life Sciences would immediately propose a partnership with mainland firms when there are highly valuable candidates or technologies, Yu added.
Yu explained that the number of melanoma patients in Asia is not as high as in the US, so the market in mainland China is not big either.
Melvin Toh Kean-meng, vice president and chief scientific officer of CK Life Sciences, said that the company and the mainland firms are inspecting each other's technologies at the same time.
Moreover, CK Life Sciences is developing several preclinical drugs targeting cancers common in Asia, said Toh, so it still expects more collaborations in the clinical phases in Greater China.
