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Investing.com-- Hong Kong-listed healthtech and healthcare stocks fell on Thursday as investors locked-in profits from a strong run, while reports of Microsoft developing products for the sector also spooked markets.
Alibaba Health Information Technology Ltd (HK:0241) and Jd Health International Inc (HK:6618), the healthtech arms of the eponymous e-commerce giants, fell 3.3% and 4.3%, respectively. The two have roughly doubled in value so far in 2025
Ping An Healthcare and Technology Company Ltd (HK:1833) shed 1%, while Akeso Inc (HK:9926) fell 5.1%.
Broader healthcare stocks also declined, with Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd (HK:1177) and Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd (HK:3692) losing 6.4% and 5%, respectively. The stocks were the worst performers on the Hang Seng, which traded flat after losing as much as 1%.
CK Life Sciences Intl Holdings Inc (HK:0775) was an outlier, rising 5% after it agreed to merge its unit, Polynoma, with Nasdaq-listed Transcode Therapeutics Inc (NASDAQ:RNAZ).
Jefferies analysts attributed the losses to profit-taking, noting that investors were also pivoting into tech stocks after a "massive rally" in pharma and healthcare stocks so far in 2025.
Adding to pressure on healthtech stocks was a Wall Street Journal report on Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) pushing further into the sector.
Microsoft entered a deal with Harvard to improve health content on its Copilot AI assistant, the WSJ reported on Wednesday.
Microsoft AI’s vice president of health, Dominic King, told the WSJ that the company intends to make Copilot serve health-related answers that are more in line with information from a medical practitioner than anything currently on offer.
A greater healthcare push from Microsoft could herald more competition for Chinese healthtech firms, especially in markets outside the mainland.
Earlier this year, Microsoft said an AI tool it developed was able to diagnose diseases at a rate four times more accurate than a group of doctors, at a fraction of the price.