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There was a time when Covid drug developers were capital market darlings, especially ones that could launch their drugs while the pandemic was still raging. But the pandemic’s rapid fading took away the appeal almost as quickly as it arrived, leaving companies that once basked in the limelight as Covid drug superstars out in the cold, scrambling to find replacements. One such company is Genuine Biotech Ltd., which rose to prominence on Azvudine, China’s first domestically developed oral Covid-19 antiviral drug.

Now, the company is looking for some of its own medicine for an ailing balance sheet with a new attempt to list in Hong Kong. The Nov. 9 listing application is the company’s third, following previous attempts in August 2022 and February 2025 that both failed to secure approval from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange within a six-month time limit.