New Stock Preview | Another Newcomer in the Self-Immolation Track, The Joy and Worry of Lingke Pharmaceutical's IPO Story.

Recently, an innovative pharmaceutical company that focuses on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases has officially knocked on the door of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. Lingke Pharmaceutical (Zhejiang) Co., Ltd. (referred to as "Lingke Pharmaceutical") has submitted an application for listing on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, with CITIC SEC and CCB International acting as joint sponsors. Before going public, the company has completed multiple rounds of financing, with a total amount of financing exceeding 1 billion RMB, attracting well-known institutions such as Lilly Asia Fund, Junlian Capital, and Shengshi Investment to participate in the investment. In 2023, the company completed two rounds of Series C financing, raising a total of 322 million RMB, with a pre-investment valuation of 3.1 billion RMB, which increased to 3.42 billion RMB after the investment. As a biotechnology company focusing on the development of small molecule inhibitors targeting the JAK-STAT pathway, Lingke Pharmaceutical has accumulated unique advantages in its differentiated product layout and technology platform. This IPO in Hong Kong will provide a comprehensive market evaluation of the company's research and development capabilities and commercial prospects. The core product has entered Phase III clinical trials Public information shows that Lingke Pharmaceutical is a leading developer of innovative differentiated small molecule inhibitors for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The company's clinical pipeline mainly focuses on the Janus kinase-signal transducer and activator of transcription (JAK-STAT) signaling pathway. The company is currently in the pre-commercialization stage and has not yet generated product sales revenue. In terms of financial performance, the company achieved operating income of 20.57 million RMB, 16.97 million RMB, and 54.78 million RMB in the first three quarters of 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively, with revenue mainly coming from cooperative authorization and research and development services. However, during the same period, net losses reached 260 million RMB, 312 million RMB, and 145 million RMB, with a cumulative loss of 717 million RMB. It is worth noting that the loss in 2024 expanded compared to the previous year, mainly due to the increase in research and development expenses caused by the advancement of the LNK01001 Phase III clinical trial. As of September 30, 2025, the company's cumulative losses had risen to 1.1033 billion RMB. Research and development investment has been consistently high, with research and development expenses of 186 million RMB, 223 million RMB, and 121 million RMB in the reporting periods, reflecting the company's critical phase of being "value-driven by research and development." Operating cash flow has remained negative, with -227.6 million RMB, -240.9 million RMB, and -85.7 million RMB in the same periods, indicating that the company still relies on external financing to support its operations. As of the end of the third quarter of 2025, the company had cash and cash equivalents of 147 million RMB. Based on an average monthly cash consumption rate of approximately 9.5 million RMB for the first nine months, the current funds can only sustain operations for about 15 months, indicating significant liquidity pressure. The company's financial structure also highlights short-term risks. The current ratio in 2024 sharply decreased from 35.3% in 2023 to 15.0%, a 57.5% decrease, mainly due to the significant increase in current liabilities from 17.8 million RMB to 1.2474 billion RMB, nearly 70 times, while current assets were only 1.87 billion RMB, making the current liabilities approximately 6.6 times the size of current assets. Although the current ratio improved to 384.5% in September 2025 due to debt-to-equity conversion, this improvement primarily resulted from converting 1.197 billion RMB of redeemable debt into equity, rather than an increase in operational hematopoietic capacity. If the future listing plans are not realized, the related liabilities may need to be reassessed, and the financial structure still remains uncertain. In terms of the research pipeline, Lingke has laid out a number of differentiated small molecule drugs for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Among them, the fastest progressing is LNK01001, a highly selective second-generation JAK1 inhibitor with the potential to become the best drug in its class. It has already initiated three Phase III clinical trials for atopic dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis, with plans to submit a new drug application in 2026-2027, making it the most commercially viable product for the company in the near future. Another key product, LNK01004, as a third-generation soft pan-JAK inhibitor, has the potential to be a "first of its kind" and completed a Phase II trial for atopic dermatitis in July 2025, with an EASI-75 response rate of 61.1%, and is expected to enter Phase III clinical trials in the first half of 2027. In addition, the TYK2 inhibitor LNK01006, which can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, has received FDA clinical clearance in November 2025 and is planned to expand into the field of neurodegenerative diseases, demonstrating the company's intention to extend into the neurologic disease market. The company's JAK1 inhibitor pipeline also includes the systemic TYK2 inhibitor LNK01007, as well as IL-23 receptor inhibitors, STAT6 PROTAC, IRAK4 PROTAC, VAV1 MGD, NEK7 MGD, among others. To improve research efficiency and target precision, Lingke has also established its own IsoNova protein degradation platform. The platform has yielded four preclinical candidates, including STAT6 PROTAC (LNK009), which is said to shorten the traditional development cycle by over 60%. The IsoNova platform, by enhancing target selectivity and reducing off-target effects, not only aims to optimize the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, but also has the potential to expand into other areas such as oncology and neurodegenerative diseases, providing patients with new treatment options. The JAK inhibitor race is heating up, with second-generation JAK inhibitors becoming the mainstream in development Since 2024, the JAK inhibitor field has gradually become a focus of attention for the domestic investment community. The JAK-STAT signaling pathway is an important signaling pathway in the human body, covering four subtypes: JAK1, JAK2, JAK3, and TYK2. Among them, JAK1 is widely involved in inflammation, immunity, and cancer processes; JAK2 is mainly related to hematopoietic system function; JAK3 and TYK2 are closely related to autoimmune diseases. The central role of this pathway in physiological and pathological processes means that JAK inhibitors targeting it have the potential to cover multiple disease areas and become key therapies for important race tracks such as autoimmune diseases, hematologic tumors, and inflammatory diseases. In terms of market size, the JAK inhibitor race shows strong growth momentum. According to Frost & Sullivan data, the global JAK inhibitor market has rapidly expanded from $5.5 billion in 2019 to $13.9 billion in 2024, and is expected to reach $25.6 billion in 2028, with the potential to exceed $40.8 billion in 2033. The growth of the Chinese market is particularly significant, jumping from 400 million RMB in 2019 to 3.8 billion RMB in 2024, and is expected to reach 17.1 billion RMB by 2028, further rising to 46.5 billion RMB by 2033, indicating immense clinical demand and commercial prospects. However, although first-generation JAK inhibitors have shown significant efficacy, they are accompanied by significant toxic side effects due to their broad spectrum of action and insufficient target selectivity, such as an increased risk of infection and hematologic abnormalities, which to some extent limit their long-term use and patient compliance. Despite blockbuster drugs like Sanofi's ruxolitinib and Pfizer's tofacitinib generating billions in annual sales, safety issues remain a key constraint to further market expansion. To improve drug safety, second-generation highly selective JAK inhibitors have emerged as the mainstream in current research and development. As of now, a total of 11 JAK inhibitors have been approved and marketed globally, with 6 of them being second-generation products. AbbVie's upadacitinib is a standout in this category, with global sales exceeding $2.5 billion in 2022. In this increasingly competitive race track, Lingke Pharmaceutical's core product LNK01001, as a second-generation JAK1 inhibitor, faces direct competition from similar products domestically and internationally. Several drugs have already been approved in the domestic market, including AbbVie's upadacitinib, Pfizer's abrocitinib, and Dzulmedicine's golicitinib, each adopting differentiated strategies in their indications: AbbVie's upadacitinib has been approved for seven major autoimmune-related indications: atopic dermatitis, psoriatic arthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, axial spondyloarthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis; Golicitinib has taken a different approach by focusing on peripheral T-cell lymphoma, an area where no new drugs have been introduced in the past decade, becoming the world's first JAK1 inhibitor for this indication, demonstrating a unique clinical positioning. As the Lingke Pharmaceutical product with the fastest research progress and closest to commercialization, the future market performance of LNK01001 will directly impact the company's value and investor confidence. However, the indications that LNK01001 is being developed for- atopic dermatitis, rheumatoid arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis- already have multiple mature drugs on the market, indicating that the drug will face fierce market competition once launched. Overall, Lingke Pharmaceutical has a deep focus on the validated core JAK-STAT pathway, forming a differentiated technological layout. Looking ahead, the commercialization milestone of the company's core product LNK01001 will be a key turning point for the company to turn losses into profits. However, the future success of LNK01001 in the market will depend on the quality of subsequent clinical trial data, the breadth of indications, and market strategies in medical insurance negotiations, hospital access, and patient education.