CanSino Biologics debuts on Shanghai stock exchange

Last Thursday, CanSino Biologics started trading its shares on the Shanghai stock exchange’s STAR Market, China’s version of Nasdaq, becoming the first vaccine maker to dually list in Hong Kong and in mainland China.

The company’s stock rose as much as 127% in its first day of trading, netting almost $750 million in its secondary offering of 24.8 million shares, making it the second most expensive IPO on the mainland.

The funds will be used to support vaccine R&D and the construction of its manufacturing facility, a cold-chain logistics system and an information system, CanSino said.

The Tianjin-based drug manufacturer was China’s forerunner in the race to develop a Covid-19 vaccine but struggled to find an oversea partner to test its vaccine candidate for the final stages of clinical trials. It recently struck a deal with Saudi Arabia to run Phase 3 trials for the vaccine there as soon as possible.