HK Stock Market Move | Innovative pharmaceutical concept stocks have the highest increase, the new edition of the National Essential Medicines List has been released, and innovative drugs have entered the selection and adjustment scope.

Concept stocks of innovative drugs lead the gains, as of the time of publication, SKB BIO (06990) rose by 6% to 503.5 Hong Kong dollars; REMEGEN (09995) rose by 6.04% to 86.9 Hong Kong dollars; ASCLETIS-B (01672) rose by 5.37% to 11.38 Hong Kong dollars; INNOVENT BIO (01801) rose by 3.71% to 89.55 Hong Kong dollars. In terms of news, on July 9, the National Health Commission, National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and National CDC jointly released the "National Essential Medicine List (2026 Edition)." The most market attention was focused on the inclusion of innovative drugs for the first time in the national essential drug list. According to the Director of the Medicines Department of the National Health Commission, Gong Xiangguang, this adjustment attempts to include innovative drugs in the selection scope. After strict expert technical consultation and review, a total of 16 innovative drugs were included in the new edition of the list, including 4 types of domestically produced Class I new drugs. It is worth noting that in the first half of 2026, the amount of outbound licensing transactions for Chinese innovative drugs reached nearly 100 billion US dollars, reaching 99.7 billion US dollars, close to 73% of the total of 135.7 billion US dollars in 2025. Bank of America Securities published a research report stating that the industry authorization transactions of China Meheco Group are active, and with enterprises continuing to advance research and development innovation, it will be beneficial for the sector's valuation reassessment.