Akeso, whose drug ivonescimab was hailed as biotech’s “DeepSeek moment” amid US competition last year, announced better-than-expected clinical results showing it can treat a type of lung cancer commonly found in smokers, potentially expanding its approved uses.Analysts suggest it could become a backbone therapy in the US$20 billion global non-small cell lung cancer market and have revised their target prices upwards.The drug’s phase three trial found that ivonescimab reduced the risk of death by 34 per cent, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange on Monday.However, its Hong Kong-listed shares dropped 1.86 per cent to HK$115.9 apiece, bucking the market rally as the Hang Seng Index gained about 0.86 per cent on Monday.In terms of the median overall survival rate – where half of the patients in a control group are still alive – those on ivonescimab lived 27.9 months. This was nearly four months longer than the 23.7 months for patients who were prescribed global oncology developer BeOne’s tislelizumab, which generated US$737 million in global sales in 2025, up 18.6 per cent year on year.Nearly two-thirds of the patients – 64.7 per cent – were still alive two years after taking ivonescimab, compared with less than half, or 48.6 per cent, in the control group.