Shares of AI drug discovery company Insight Silicon (03696) climbed sharply in the afternoon session, gaining over 12%. At the time of writing, the stock was up 12.03% to trade at HK$45.26, with turnover reaching HK$724 million. The surge follows the successful completion of a Phase III clinical trial for a personalized cancer vaccine combining AI and mRNA technology, developed by Moderna in collaboration with Merck, which has reignited investor interest in both mRNA therapeutics and AI-driven pharmaceutical development.

Insight Silicon, recognized as a leader in the AI drug discovery space, has established a strong model validation and delivery loop within the AI4S (AI for Science) pharmaceutical sector. Adding to the positive momentum, on August 20 the company announced a research collaboration with Next-Generation RNA innovator Yuanma Zhihui. The partnership aims to build a next-generation mRNA AI-native R&D system, focusing on areas such as AI-based neoantigen prediction and sequence design, circular mRNA, targeted delivery, automated experimentation, and intelligent manufacturing.

In a recent research note, GTHT Securities highlighted that multiple molecules generated by Insight Silicon's Pharma.AI platform have already been the subject of licensing agreements with pharmaceutical companies both domestically and internationally. Furthermore, the firm's MMAIGym initiative is expected to drive the company beyond project-based AI drug discovery collaborations, extending into a platform-based monetization model that includes model training infrastructure, data and model licensing, and cloud-based API access. Based on comparable company analysis, the brokerage has assigned a 2026 price-to-sales multiple of 29x, setting a target price of HK$73.23 and initiating coverage with an "Accumulate" rating.