(Yicai Global) May 25 -- Chinese drug developer Henan Genuine Biotech has today refuted a report that its Covid-19 tablet is now on the market. But the news did not stop China Resources Double-Crane Pharmaceutical, which won the contract to produce the experimental treatment earlier this month, from surging by the exchange-imposed limit.

CR Double-Crane’s share price [SHA:600062] closed up 8.77 percent at CNY31 (USD4.65). Earlier in the day it had hit CNY31.35, close to an all-time high. The Beijing-based firm has production rights for a ten-year period.

Azvudine, a medicine developed by Genuine Biotech and invented by Zhengzhou University professor Chang Junbiao, has completed clinical trials and is now available for sale, Henan TV reported this morning.

A company staff member has since told Yicai Global that the report is untrue and has been deleted. There is also no evidence on the National Medical Products Administration’s website that the drug has been given the go-ahead.

Azvudine was greenlit by Chinese authorities in July last year to treat HIV-infected patients. Pingdingshan, central Henan province-based Genuine Biotech began to apply it on Covid-19 patients after the pandemic broke out and it finished clinical trials at home and abroad last month. Although the results have yet to be released, the medicine is said to have good results on infections.

Covid-19 pills are becoming a focus of the market amid a fresh wave of outbreaks driven by the highly contagious omicron variant. At present there is only one orally-taken Covid-19 medicine in China and that is US biomedical giant Pfizer’s Paxlovid. China approved the import of the drug in February and it is now selling for CNY2,300 (USD351) a box.

Editors: Chen Juan, Kim Taylor