CICC has released a research report maintaining its current earnings forecasts for Henlius (02696). The stock currently trades at 27.2x/25.7x its estimated FY26/FY27 P/E. Based on the firm's view of the company's robust revenue and profit growth and its optimism towards the innovative pipeline including HLX43, the broker reaffirms its Outperform rating and HK$102.91 target price, which corresponds to a 47.7x/45.0x FY26/FY27 P/E and implies a 75% upside potential.
Key Updates and Analysis
The company presented pooled data from two studies of its PD-L1 ADC, HLX43, in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in a rapid oral presentation at the 2026 ASCO meeting, disclosing progression-free survival (PFS) data for the first time.
Potential to Redefine Later-Line Treatment Standards
The data demonstrates potential for broad coverage across NSCLC patient populations, focusing on heavily pre-treated patients. As of February 28, 2026, the studies had enrolled 205 patients with advanced NSCLC (including 95 with sqNSCLC and 110 with nsqNSCLC). Of these, 99%/82%/41%/24% had previously received platinum-based chemotherapy/immunotherapy/targeted therapy/docetaxel. Furthermore, 28%/14%/14% had bone/brain/liver metastases. Despite this background of a high proportion of heavily pre-treated patients (including those who failed multiple prior therapies), HLX43 demonstrated encouraging anti-tumor activity.
In EGFR wild-type nsqNSCLC patients (2.5mg/kg, n=10), HLX43 monotherapy achieved a confirmed objective response rate (cORR) of 36.8%, a confirmed disease control rate (cDCR) of 94.7%, and a median PFS (mPFS) of 6.67 months.
In sqNSCLC patients (2.0mg/kg, n=33), HLX43 monotherapy resulted in a cORR of 46.7%, a cDCR of 80.0%, and an mPFS of 6.90 months.
Among PD-L1 positive (TPS≥1%, n=29) and negative (TPS<1%/unevaluable, n=39) patients, the cORR was 37.9% and 33.3%, and the cDCR was 89.7% and 84.6%, respectively, showing no significant difference.
Manageable Monotherapy Safety Profile
In the pooled analysis of 205 patients, no new safety signals were observed. The rate of Grade ≥3 treatment-related adverse events (TRAEs) was 48.8%. The most common Grade ≥3 TRAEs included decreased lymphocyte count (27.3%), anemia (14.1%), decreased white blood cell count (13.7%), and decreased neutrophil count (11.2%). The incidence of treatment interruption/dose reduction/discontinuation/death due to TRAEs was 38.0%/12.2%/7.8%/1.0%, respectively. The broker believes the manageable safety profile observed in this study positions HLX43 for potential use in earlier-line treatment strategies based on monotherapy.
To date, HLX43 has cumulatively enrolled over 1,000 patients globally (over 600 with NSCLC) across more than 10 monotherapy and combination clinical studies. The broker anticipates more encouraging clinical data readouts for HLX43.
Risks to Consider
Potential risks include clinical trial failures, a worsening competitive landscape, and drug pricing pressures exceeding expectations.
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