1672.HK
Ascletis Pharma announced Tuesday its net loss narrowed sharply in the first half of this year to 16.56 million yuan from an 88 million yuan loss in the same period last year.

The latest: Ascletis Pharma Inc. (1672.HK) announced Tuesday its net loss narrowed sharply in the first half of this year to 16.56 million yuan ($2.3 million) from an 88 million yuan loss in the same period last year.

Looking up: The company’s revenue in the first half of the year increased by 21.7% to 46.51 million yuan, mainly due to a surge in sales of ritonavir, a protease inhibitor, by 6,292% to 44.17 million yuan. Its gross margin also soared by 19.3 percentage points to 83% because of improved cost controls in production.

Take Note: Ascletis did not record any promotional services revenue during the period, compared to 33 million yuan in the same period last year.

Digging Deeper: Founded in 2013, Ascletis develops and makes innovative drugs to treat viral diseases, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis and cancer, and was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 2018. Its core product, ritonavir, is a pharmacokinetic enhancer of several oral antiviral drugs targeting viral proteases and is a component of the oral Covid drug Paxlovid. It was approved for sale by the National Medical Products Administration of China in September 2021, and has quickly become a mainstay of the company’s revenue.

Market Reaction: After initially opening higher, Ascletis Pharma shares fell back on Tuesday morning and were unchanged by the midday break, closing at HK$1.87. The stock now trades near the lower end of its 52-week range.

Translation by A. Au

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