On May 27, Elpiscience Biopharmaceuticals (referred to as "Elpiscience") submitted a listing application to the Main Board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange once again. This marks the company's fourth attempt, having previously filed applications on June 27, 2024, May 23, 2025, and November 24, 2025.
Established in 2017, Elpiscience is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on developing cancer therapies. Its core product is ES102, a clinically advanced hexavalent OX40 agonist antibody designed specifically to treat cancer patients who respond poorly to immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs). Since licensing ES102 from Inhibrx in 2018, the company has completed two Phase 1 clinical trials in China for patients with advanced solid tumors, evaluating ES102 both as a monotherapy and in combination with a PD-1 checkpoint inhibitor. Elpiscience has also initiated a Phase 2 clinical trial in China combining ES102 with toripalimab for treating advanced NSCLC patients, dosing the first patient in April 2025 to further explore ES102's potential in combination therapies.
As of the latest practicable date, besides its core product, Elpiscience possesses a pipeline of assets including the bispecific CD39/TGFβ trap recombinant protein ES014, the VEGF/DLL4 bispecific antibody ES104, and the differentiated LILRB2-targeting monoclonal antibody ES009, all of which are in clinical stages.
According to the prospectus, Elpiscience currently has no products approved for commercial sale and has not generated any revenue from drug sales. The company reported net losses of approximately RMB 853 million, RMB 88 million, and RMB 155 million for the years 2023, 2024, and 2025, respectively.
The board of Elpiscience consists of six directors: one executive director, Dr. Ji Xiaohui (aged 64, Co-founder, Chairman, and CEO); two non-executive directors, Dr. Xu Hansen (aged 37, Vice President of Lilly Asia Ventures) and Dr. He Xin (aged 54, General Manager of Ningbo Huidingshan Investment); and three independent non-executive directors, Mr. Tan Bo (aged 52, Independent Non-executive Director of Akeso), Ms. Liu Yuwen (aged 53, Independent Non-executive Director of Tigermed), and Dr. Tan Xuehai (aged 68, Founder of Huiyuan Biotech).
Other senior management personnel at Elpiscience include Mr. Lin Yaojie (aged 38, Chief Financial Officer), Ms. Tu Shuyue (aged 39, Head of Operations and Finance), Ms. Zhang Xuying (aged 43, Head of Human Resources), and Mr. Wang Guanhua (aged 48, Head of Chemistry, Manufacturing, and Controls).
To date, the LAV USD entity controlled by Dr. Shi Yi holds approximately 22.93% of the total issued shares, constituting the largest single shareholder group of Elpiscience. Other pre-IPO investors include Lilly Asia Ventures, Greater Bay Area Homeland Development Fund, Huidingshan Investment, Tencent, and Hillhouse Capital.
The key intermediaries for Elpiscience's IPO are: Sole Sponsor:
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