Chinese biotech companies are lining up to list on Hong Kong’s stock exchange, despite mixed returns for the first 10 groups to take advantage of rules allowing drug developers to list on the bourse before they sell any products to patients.

Six Chinese biotech groups have applied to list on the board following launches over the past year that raised $4bn for Chinese pharmaceutical companies. Five of the 10 largest biotech initial public offerings worldwide in the first half of 2019 were from Chinese companies.

The Hong Kong offerings are seen as a challenge to Nasdaq, where so-called pre-revenue Chinese biotechs previously tended to list, and as a boost to China’s fast-growing biotech sector, which has created dozens of companies valued above $1bn.