(Yicai Global) March 23 -- Chinese Biopharmaceutical company Innocare Pharma shares [HKG:9969] were trading up 10.95 percent at HKD9.93 in mid-afternoon after opening at HKD9.40 (USD1.20) today on debut, up 5.03 percent from their HKD8.95 issue price, as it became the first biotech company to list in Hong Kong this year.

Innocare issued 250 million shares in total and raised about HKD2.1 billion (USD269.8 million). A private offering of its stock on March 20 oversubscribed almost 300 times.

The Beijing-based company, which has yet to market a single product, completed its initial public offering ceremony via an online video today because of the Covid-19 epidemic. 

Formed in 2015, the firm's founders are Shi Yigong, an academician with the Chinese Academy of Sciences and president and founder of Westlake University in Hangzhou, and Jasmine Cui, former chief executive and chief strategy officer of pharma firm BioDuro. Innocare is still in the clinical trial stage of all its medicines and has developed nine candidate drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases. 

The company lost CNY342 million (USD48.2 million), 554 million and 653 million in 2017, 2018 and the first three quarters of last year, respectively. It had raised a total of USD218.8 million in funding as of the time of listing, per its prospectus. 

Editor: Ben Armour