HK Stock Market Move | CRO concept stocks all opened lower. Pharmaron Beijing (03759) opened more than 13% lower. Institutions say there may be short-term disturbances in the industry's sentiment.

Concept stocks related to CROs opened lower across the board. As of the time of writing, Pharmaron Beijing (03759) fell by 13.27% to HK$10.46, Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting (03347) fell by 11.33% to HK$22.3, Asymchem Laboratories (06821) fell by 7.52% to HK$39.95, and VIVA BIOTECH (01873) fell by 7.44% to HK$1.12. On the news front, US President Trump stated on April 8th that the US will impose tariffs on drugs. Trump believes that once tariffs are imposed on drugs, pharmaceutical companies will set up factories in the US because the US is the "largest market". In addition, it was reported that the US National Security Council issued a full report on "swiftly taking action to protect US national security in the emerging biotechnology field" on April 8th. Xiangcai Securities pointed out that companies related to laboratory research and development outsourcing in the medical service sector have more business involving the US market. Therefore, the sentiment of the pharmaceutical outsourcing industry may be disrupted in the short term by the impact of tariffs. However, from the perspective of the industry chain, domestic pharmaceutical outsourcing service companies have become an important part of the global pharmaceutical industry chain. They will help US major pharmaceutical companies improve research and development efficiency, allowing more focus on the back-end research and development and manufacturing of pharmaceuticals, providing support for the production and value creation of the pharmaceutical industry. Therefore, we believe that the impact of tariffs on the fundamental aspects of the CXO industry is expected to be manageable, and we recommend taking advantage of the opportunity for allocation brought about by the sector's decline.