AI Drug Discovery Stocks Surge on Anthropic's Wet Lab and China Policy Support

Market Overview: AI Pharma Concept Stocks Rally

On the morning of September 21, China's three major stock indices opened higher and continued to climb, with AI drug discovery (AIDD) concept stocks showing strong momentum. Key movers included:

• Novogene hit the daily limit up within three minutes of market open
• Porton Pharma Solutions and Huili Pharmaceutical surged 10%
• Yingkang Life Sciences, Dian Diagnostics, Zelgen Biopharma, Bioprogen and others followed with gains

Industry Catalysts: Major Moves by Tech Giants and Policy Support

Anthropic Doubles Down on Life Sciences

According to foreign media reports, AI giant Anthropic is building a wet laboratory in the San Francisco Bay Area, extending its biological research from pure computer simulation to real-world experimentation. The company's life sciences head stated that life sciences is now one of Anthropic's largest areas of investment in both personnel and resources, calling it "the biggest opportunity yet" to fulfill the company's mission.

Just last Wednesday, Novo Nordisk announced a deep partnership with Anthropic, adopting the latter's Claude Science platform—built specifically for scientific research—to accelerate drug discovery and development.

Earlier this year, in April, Anthropic acquired AI drug discovery startup Coefficient Bio for approximately $400 million. The company also provides AI tools and services to major pharmaceutical firms including Roche's Genentech and Bristol-Myers Squibb. The new wet lab marks the imminent completion of its "dry lab + wet lab" closed-loop system.

Domestic Developments

In China, industrialization is accelerating:

• ByteDance-spinoff AI pharma company Xinshengtantu completed its first financing round at a post-investment valuation of $1.5 billion
• Among Hong Kong-listed AI pharma "three little dragons," Insilico Medicine reported 287% year-on-year revenue growth in H1, achieving its first semi-annual profit since listing
• XtalPi's AI4S business saw revenue grow 136.4% year-on-year in H1

Policy Tailwinds

The policy signal is clear: China's Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and nine other departments jointly issued the "15th Five-Year Plan for Pharmaceutical Industry Development", designating "deepening AI-enabled upgrades" as one of 25 key tasks. The plan includes a dedicated section on "AI Pharma High-Value Application Scenario Cultivation," explicitly prioritizing AI-powered target screening, drug molecular design, and optimization.

Institutional Views: AI Pharma Enters Value Validation Phase

AI drug discovery uses machine learning, large language models, and other AI technologies to assist or autonomously complete drug discovery, design, prediction, and decision-making. The core logic is a "design-build-test-learn" dry-wet closed loop that shortens R&D cycles and reduces costs.

Dongwu Securities notes that AI pharma is entering a strategic deployment phase, with the dry-wet closed loop being the core logic of AI drug discovery. Wet lab experiments remain irreplaceable, and upstream segments—gene synthesis, protein expression and purification, in vitro validation, and model animals—will systematically benefit from the explosion of AI-generated candidate molecules.

Zhongtai Securities believes the rate-limiting step in drug R&D iteration lies in wet experiments. As AI's efficiency and cost advantages combine with increasingly clear feedback pathways, the industry is likely to generate stronger demand for molecular validation.

Shanghai Securities suggests that leading domestic AI pharma companies are achieving innovation breakthroughs, continuously strengthening efforts in novel drug candidate discovery and development, materials R&D, and diversifying their portfolios. The sector is accelerating from concept validation to clinical value delivery and industrialization. Recommended stocks include XtalPi Holdings, Insilico Medicine, and Jetai Technology.

Zheshang Securities commented: "Perhaps the Claude of the pharmaceutical industry is about to arrive." The firm believes the industry's development logic is shifting from scientist-driven decision-making to intelligent autonomous decision-making and validation. Early-stage drug R&D automation platforms have entered the validation phase, and high-frequency iteration will trigger an explosion in validation demand. Platforms capable of continuous iteration are expected to become core competitive advantages.

8 Concept Stocks Expected to Double Earnings This Year

According to East Money concept board data, the A-share market currently has 80 stocks related to the AI pharma concept, with a combined market capitalization of approximately ¥1.25 trillion.

Market Cap Leaders

| Company | Market Cap (¥) | |---------|----------------| | Xiechuang Data | 130.171 billion | | Unisplendour | >30 billion | | Pharmaron | >30 billion | | Biocytogen, Shanghai Pharma, Huadong Medicine, Yanshan Tech | >30 billion each |

Year-to-Date Performance

The AI pharma concept sector has underperformed overall year-to-date, with 27 stocks rising and 53 falling. Notable performers include:

• Biocytogen, Xiechuang Data, Bioprogen: share prices doubled
• Medicilon: up nearly 90%
• Xiangyu Medical, Wan Dong Medical, Runda Medical: down over 20% each

Recent Momentum

Last week, the sector showed a clear turnaround, with nearly 80% of concept stocks posting significant gains:

• Bioprogen: up over 39%
• MGI Tech: up 32.49%
• Porton Pharma Solutions, Medicilon, Novogene and 7 others: up 10%–25% each

Capital Flows

According to East Money Choice data, 28 AI pharma concept stocks attracted margin trading interest last week:

• Unisplendour: net margin buying of ¥156 million
• Kaile Shares: ¥42 million
• Biocytogen: ¥32 million
• Medicilon, Shanghai Pharma, Changchun High-Tech, PharmaResources, and others: net margin buying exceeding ¥10 million each

Earnings Growth Forecasts

Based on consensus forecasts from three or more institutions, 8 AI pharma concept stocks are expected to see net profit double or more this year:

| Company | Forecast Net Profit Growth | |---------|---------------------------| | Dian Diagnostics | +940% | | Changchun High-Tech | +587% | | Zelgen Biopharma | +440% | | Kingmed Diagnostics | +260%+ | | Huahai Pharma | +260%+ | | Medicilon | Doubling expected | | Biocytogen | Doubling expected | | Unisplendour | Doubling expected |

Company Highlights

Biocytogen, specializing in gene-edited model animals and antibody discovery, reported H1 net profit of ¥241 million attributable to shareholders, up 402.29% year-on-year, marking its fifth consecutive quarter of profitability. In May, the company launched its AI-driven RenSuper Workstation, forming an architecture combining "real antibody sequence library + AI + automated intelligent manufacturing."

Bioprogen stated in a recent institutional survey that it is deeply integrating "AI for Science" with its proprietary platform, building a dual-driven "AI prediction–experimental validation" protein design and development model. Using its AI prediction model platform, the company achieves precise forecasting of key attributes such as protein/mRNA expression levels and solubility. Through deep integration of dry-lab computational simulation and wet-lab high-throughput screening, it has completed AI-optimized upgrades on multiple industrial-grade products.

(Source: East Money Research Center)