Mainland China and Hong Kong should ease listing rules for biotechnology companies and lower takeover thresholds for listed firms to capitalise on renewed foreign interest in the healthcare sector, venture capitalist Nisa Leung said.

“Besides artificial intelligence, Premier Li Qiang also highlighted biomedicine in the ‘two sessions’ annual government work report,” said Leung, a managing partner at Aulis Capital, speaking in a sideline interview during China’s annual meetings of the National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and the National People’s Congress (NPC).

“We are paying attention to medical insurance and commercial insurance, but at the same time we are also looking at how biopharmaceutical companies can expand overseas,” said Leung, who is a member of the CPPCC.

“Hong Kong has also become a very important [capital] centre for AI and healthcare,” she added, citing the successful listing of Insilico Medicine last year in Hong Kong, which she described as a milestone for the sector.

The AI-driven drug discovery company raised HK$2.28 billion (US$290 million) in the share sale. However, she noted that regulatory bottlenecks were slowing the pipeline of new listings.

“Many are stuck in the approval process at the China Securities Regulatory Commission [CSRC],” she said.