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Armed with a pipeline targeting multiple indications including rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, LinkDoc Pharmaceuticals is making its second attempt to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange

Produced by | Frontline of Entrepreneurship

Author | Hu Fangjie

Edited by Meng Xiangna

Art Editor: Qianqian

Reviewed by | Song Wen

In recent years, China's autoimmune disease therapeutics market has been undergoing rapid expansion, growing from RMB 16.2 billion in 2019 to RMB 32.8 billion in 2024, with institutional forecasts suggesting the total market size could surpass RMB 54 billion by 2026.

Within this blue ocean, oral small-molecule targeted drugs—led by JAK inhibitors—are continuously reshaping the clinical treatment landscape for autoimmune diseases in China, thanks to their unique advantage of offering an oral alternative to injectable biologics.

Amid heightened investor interest in the sector, clinical-stage biopharma companies are urgently seeking capital through public listings to advance their R&D and commercialize their pipelines. Recently, Lignos Therapeutics, a company focused on developing small-molecule inhibitors for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases, submitted its listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange for the second time.

However, with domestic giants like Hengrui Pharma already having commercialized JAK inhibitors, what differentiated advantages does Lignos Therapeutics—a latecomer—actually possess, and what real-world weaknesses does it face? Can its pipeline break through the competitive encirclement and carve out a foothold in this crowded field?

1. Overseas-educated PhDs launch startup together; free equity transfers draw regulatory scrutiny

In 2017, China’s innovative drug reform ushered in a wave of development, prompting a large number of Chinese scientists with R&D experience at multinational pharmaceutical companies to return home and start businesses. Among them was Wan Zhaokui, a former senior R&D executive for Johnson & Johnson’s Asia-Pacific operations with over two decades of experience in new drug development.

At the time, there was a clear supply-demand gap: globally, autoimmune diseases had already entered the era of precision targeted therapy, yet patients in China were still reliant on traditional drugs with significant side effects. The domestic market for high-safety, high-quality JAK-targeted therapies was virtually nonexistent.

Spotting this opportunity, Wan Zhaokui co-founded Lignos Therapeutics in Hangzhou in 2017 with three other seasoned industry partners.

(Image / Lignos Therapeutics official website)

Its founding team members each bring distinct expertise: Jun Wang, former Chief Scientist at Merck; Michael Vazquez, former Associate Scientist at Pfizer; and Yan Chen, an expert in industrial capital operations, together form the core founding group, covering the entire value chain from drug R&D and technological breakthroughs to capital operations.

The four founders have notably diverse backgrounds. Zhao-Kui Wan, Jun Wang, and Michael Vazquez are all U.S. citizens holding PhD degrees and have completed postdoctoral research overseas; Yan Chen, the only Chinese national among the founders, graduated from China Pharmaceutical University.

Backed by a comprehensive R&D pipeline, Lynk Therapeutics has completed multiple rounds of financing, raising a total of RMB 360 million.Investors include Legend Wellness Fund, GenBridge, LAV Lynk Hangzhou, and Suzhou LAV Run. As external institutional investors entered, the founding team also partially monetized their stakes through equity transfers.

According to incomplete statistics from 'Frontiers of Entrepreneurship,' after multiple market-driven equity transactions, Zhao-Kui Wan received aggregate transfer proceeds of RMB 31.75 million, Jun Wang realized RMB 5.2 million in transfer gains, and Lingxin Partnership, the employee stockholding platform, received RMB 3.05 million from its equity sales.

During the company’s early-stage internal equity structuring, several share transfers were executed at zero consideration.

In June 2018, Jun Wang acquired equity interests representing RMB 177,000 and RMB 146,000 in registered capital from Zhao-Kui Wan and the offshore holding vehicle Lynk Investment, respectively. Simultaneously, Lingxin Partnership received RMB 2,155,000 in registered capital from Zhao-Kui Wan on a zero-consideration basis. None of these transactions required payment from the transferees. Lynk Investment was owned by Zhao-Kui Wan (26.14%), Jun Wang (18.26%), and Michael Vazquez (55.6%).

Subsequently, in December 2020 and July 2021, Lingxin Partnership participated in two separate capital increases, subscribing to a combined RMB 2,570,200 in newly issued registered capital. The prospectus did not disclose the subscription price; however, during the same period, the external investor GenBridge paid RMB 40 per share for its stake.

On one hand, internal parties received shares at no cost, while on the other, external investors paid as much as RMB 40 per share—an evident pricing disparity between internal and external transactions that has drawn significant regulatory scrutiny.

Following Lynk Therapeutics’ initial submission of its overseas listing application, the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) issued a filing inquiry letter on January 19 of this year, identifying the pricing rationale behind all historical equity transfers and the commercial fairness of zero-consideration share transfers as key verification points. The company was required to fully disclose supporting documentation and provide a thorough explanation justifying the reasonableness of these transactions.

(Figure / CSRC’s supplementary materials request for overseas listing filings)

After completing compliance reviews and rectifications of its equity history, Linkage Pharmaceuticals refiled its prospectus with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2026 to relaunch its IPO process. Its highly fragmented ownership structure has also become a focal point of market discussion.

Following multiple rounds of institutional financing, the four founders collectively hold only 34.42% of the company’s voting rights, while institutional shareholders own a majority stake. The prospectus does not disclose any concert party agreements among the founders.

In response to this ownership structure, regulators have issued specific inquiries, requiring the company to thoroughly justify its determination that it has no controlling shareholder, conduct comprehensive穿透 verification of all shareholders, identify the ultimate controllers and aggregate shareholding percentages of shareholders with affiliations or concert party relationships, and clearly state the methodology and legal basis for calculating the number of shareholders.

2. Out-licensing as Primary Revenue Source; Commercial Viability Remains to Be Validated

Beyond regulatory scrutiny of its equity history and governance compliance, capital markets’ core assessment of Linkage Pharmaceuticals’ IPO value centers on the technological strength of its proprietary pipeline, its ability to address unmet clinical needs, and its differentiated positioning within the competitive landscape.

Although Linkage Pharmaceuticals has not yet commercialized any products, its clinical pipeline has already established a clear dual-engine strategy.—Oral selective JAK1 inhibitor LNK01001 targets systemic autoimmune diseases (e.g., rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis), while topical soft pan-JAK inhibitor LNK01004 focuses on localized skin inflammatory conditions (e.g., atopic dermatitis). Together, they cover the two core autoimmune therapeutic areas: musculoskeletal and dermatological.

Building on this foundation, the company is also proactively advancing TYK2 inhibitor LNK01006 into the central nervous system (CNS) disease space, targeting neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease, aiming to establish another key R&D focus area.

At the industry level, GaoGuang Pharma, a domestic peer, exhibits a highly similar pipeline strategy to Linkage Pharmaceuticals—both companies concurrently focus on peripheral autoimmune inflammation and CNS neurodegenerative diseases, avoiding homogenized competition typical of conventional JAK inhibitors. They are among the few innovative Chinese biopharmaceutical firms simultaneously pursuing ‘autoimmune inflammation + CNS disorders.’

However, unlike Lingke Pharma's single-target strategy, Gaoguang Pharma focuses on dual-target approaches: TLL-018 (TYK2/JAK1) primarily targets indications such as chronic spontaneous urticaria and rheumatoid arthritis, while TLL-041 (a brain-penetrant TYK2/JAK1 inhibitor) is specifically developed for neurodegenerative diseases.

From a financial standpoint, Lingke Pharma’s core products are all in clinical trial stages and have not yet achieved commercialization, resulting in a lack of stable and sustainable operating revenue.

In both 2024 and 2025, the company has not generated any revenue from its primary business operations, accumulating total losses of RMB 500 million over the two years.Against this backdrop, out-licensing collaborations have become one of the company’s primary sources of funding to sustain its R&D and operational expenditures.

(Source: Company prospectus)

In the first quarter of 2026, the company received an upfront payment of RMB 38.643 million from an out-licensing collaboration.

As early as December 2025, Lingke Pharma entered into a collaboration agreement with Bleecker Bio. Under the terms of the agreement, Lingke Pharma exclusively granted Bleecker Bio global rights—excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan—to develop, manufacture, and commercialize LNK01006.

As part of the transaction consideration, Bleecker Bio will pay Lingke Pharma a USD 5 million upfront payment and issue a warrant entitling Lingke Pharma to acquire a 10% equity stake in Bleecker Bio. Additionally, Lingke Pharma retains the right to receive further payments upon achieving specified clinical development, regulatory approval, and commercialization milestones, with total potential milestone payments reaching up to USD 605 million (approximately RMB 4 billion or more).

(Source: Company prospectus)

This out-licensing model follows a recognizable industry trend.

In March 2023, Gaoguang Pharma entered into an exclusive out-licensing agreement with global neuroscience company Biohaven for TLL-041, granting Biohaven full rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the compound for all central nervous system (CNS) indications outside Greater China. The deal included a USD 10 million upfront payment, 721,136 shares of Biohaven stock, up to USD 950 million in milestone payments, and tiered royalties on sales.

By comparison, Gaoguang Pharma’s licensing deal offers more favorable financial terms than Lingke Pharma’s—its upfront payment is USD 5 million higher, and its milestone payment ceiling exceeds Lingke’s by USD 300 million.

If we return to industry fundamentals, drug development targeting the central nervous system has long been known for its high failure rate. While upfront payments and milestone figures are eye-catching, they cannot bypass the stringent hurdle of clinical trials.

Both Lingke Pharma’s allosteric TYK2 inhibitor LNK01006 and Gauguin Pharma’s dual-target candidate TLL-041 are currently in clinical development. Whether their target selectivity advantages will translate into clinical benefit and whether their safety profiles can support long-term dosing remain to be answered by subsequent Phase II and larger-scale trials.

3. Leading competitors have already launched products and secured market positions, significantly increasing the difficulty for latecomers to break through.

Beyond its flagship central nervous system-targeted drugs, Lingke Pharma also has a core pipeline of autoimmune therapies poised for advancement—but it faces equally intense market competition.

Autoimmune diseases—such as rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, and atopic dermatitis—affect a vast patient population and require long treatment durations, making this the second-largest global pharmaceutical market after oncology.

The pathogenesis of many autoimmune diseases relies on aberrant immune signaling mediated by JAK pathways. Therefore, JAK inhibitors, which block these pathways at the source, can suppress overactive immune inflammation and have become cornerstone therapies for these conditions.

First-generation pan-JAK inhibitors (e.g., ruxolitinib, tofacitinib, baricitinib), which entered the market early, achieved broad-spectrum inhibition with limited selectivity and delivered commercial success across multiple indications—ruxolitinib generated USD 3.97 billion globally in 2022, tofacitinib USD 1.796 billion, and baricitinib USD 830 million.

(Image / Shetu.com, based on the VRF protocol)

However, due to their overly broad target coverage, first-generation agents often carry risks such as infections, thrombosis, lipid abnormalities, and malignancies in clinical use. Some carry FDA black box warnings, and their safety concerns have somewhat limited long-term usage and broader patient adoption.

Second-generation JAK inhibitors, by contrast, achieve high selectivity for specific subtypes (e.g., JAK1, JAK3, TYK2), maintaining efficacy while significantly reducing off-target side effects, thereby offering improved safety and becoming the preferred clinical choice. Upadacitinib, a representative agent, surpassed USD 2.5 billion in sales within three years of launch, outpacing earlier-generation drugs and validating the market value of precision targeting.

Multiple second-generation, highly selective JAK inhibitors have already been launched in China, establishing a clear competitive landscape in this segment.

In addition to imported products, Hengrui Pharma’s emactinib sulfate tablets received approval in 2025, securing indications for four major conditions—active ankylosing spondylitis, rheumatoid arthritis, moderate-to-severe atopic dermatitis, and severe alopecia areata—thereby filling the domestic gap in JAK inhibitor treatments for alopecia areata and accelerating market expansion leveraging cost and national reimbursement advantages.

Competition in China’s JAK inhibitor segment is intensifying, with pharmaceutical companies adopting clear strategies to stand out:either differentiating through distinct targets to carve out niche pathways, exploring untapped indications such as alopecia areata and vitiligo, or competing for patient share by optimizing safety profiles and offering pricing advantages.

Going forward, highly selective second-generation JAK inhibitors with exclusive indications and superior safety mechanisms are likely to maintain a central position in the market.

Lingkang Pharma has two differentiated products in its pipeline:LNK01001 is an orally administered, highly selective JAK1 inhibitor—classified as a second-generation JAK inhibitor—with indications covering rheumatoid arthritis, ankylosing spondylitis, atopic dermatitis, and vitiligo; LNK01004 is a topical soft pan-JAK inhibitor targeting mild-to-moderate atopic dermatitis.

In terms of development progress, LNK01001 completed Phase III trials for rheumatoid arthritis in January 2026 and has already submitted a marketing application for atopic dermatitis, with filings for rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis indications expected in the second half of 2026 and the second half of 2027, respectively.

The other candidate, LNK01004, completed its Phase II clinical trial in July 2025 and is scheduled to initiate Phase III trials in the first half of 2027.

However, for certain indications, China’s second-generation JAK1 inhibitor segment is already becoming crowded.

Taking rheumatoid arthritis as an example, China has already approved 15 targeted therapies (7 small molecules and 8 biologics), with another 11 JAK inhibitors in Phase I and 2 in Phase II. Products from Gauguin Pharma, Lingkang Pharma, and Wuxi Fosun are in Phase III, meaning latecomers will face intense competition in an already saturated market.

Lingkang Pharma currently has no marketed products, lacks a commercial team, and has no experience in sales, medical affairs, or market access. Compared to AbbVie and Pfizer’s global commercial infrastructure and Hengrui Pharma’s localized network, its shortcomings are evident.

To address these gaps, Lingkang Pharma entered into a strategic collaboration with Simcere Pharma in January 2024: Simcere will provide CRO services for the Phase III clinical trials of LNK01001 in ankylosing spondylitis and rheumatoid arthritis (including regulatory submissions and clinical trial management). Lingkang Pharma will pay a total service fee of RMB 136.53 million across ten milestones (RMB 979 million already paid) and has agreed to obtain marketing approval for the ankylosing spondylitis indication by the end of 2027, with a success-based bonus of up to RMB 75 million or an equivalent penalty payment if the deadline is missed.

(Image / Shetu.com, based on the VRF protocol)

On the commercialization front, Lingkang Pharma is responsible for manufacturing and supply, while Simcere Pharma made an upfront payment of RMB 133 million to secure exclusive domestic commercial rights for both indications and will handle promotion, earning tiered service fees based on market share.

While this partnership alleviates some commercial pressure, Lingkang Pharma still faces intense competition from first-to-market products after launch. Its ability to differentiate through specific indications or superior clinical data will determine its future market performance.

Overall, Lingkang Pharma’s differentiated pipeline paints an optimistic picture, but its path to breakthrough remains challenging amid entrenched first-mover advantages, commercial weaknesses, and equity-related uncertainties. Ultimately, whether it can deliver on clinical data and execution efficiency will be the decisive factor in establishing a foothold in this blue ocean market.

*Note: The featured image in this article is from Shetu.com and is licensed under the VRF protocol.

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