(Yicai Global) July 5 -- Huadong Medicine's shares jumped after Chinese regulators gave the green light for sales of the drugmaker's glucagon-like peptide-1 agonist for treating overweight and obese people, making it the first GLP-1 weight-loss drug approved by the country.

Huadong Medicine [SHE: 000963] closed 3.4 percent higher at CNY44.86 (USD6.20) today, after earlier jumping by as much as 5.6 percent. The Shenzhen Component Index ended down 0.9 percent.

The liraglutide injection sales application filed by Huadong Medicine unit Hangzhou Zhongmei Huadong Pharmaceutical was approved by the National Medical Products Administration, its Hangzhou-based parent firm said yesterday. The drug was cleared for sale as a treatment for diabetes treatment in March.

GLP-1, a hot target for non-insulin hypoglycemic agents, has also become a popular target for weight-loss treatments in recent years. The GLP-1 receptor agonist mainly achieves weight-loss results by suppressing appetite and delaying gastric emptying.

The liraglutide injection developed by Huadong Medicine is a generic drug originally made by Novo Nordisk. The Danish pharmaceutical giant also developed Saxenda, a liraglutide-based weight-loss medication approved for sale by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2014, but not by Chinese regulators.

More than 10 firms have set their sights on developing drugs based on liraglutide as its patent expired. Novo Nordisk is advancing on obtaining China's sales approval for Wegovy, another GLP-1 drug, meaning Huadong Medicine will face fierce market competition.

Founded in 1993, Huadong Medicine’s net profit rose 7.2 percent to CNY755 million (USD104.4 million) in the first quarter from a year earlier, while revenue jumped 13 percent to CNY10.1 million (USD1.4 million), according to its latest earnings report.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev