(Yicai Global) July 14 -- Shares of China's InnoCarePharma surged to an all-time high after the firm said US biomedicine giant Biogen will pay up to USD937.5 million for an exclusive global license to sell its new autoimmune disease drug to treat multiple sclerosis.

InnoCare's stock price [HK:9969] hit an all-time high of HKD31.80 (USD4.10) intraday. The equity price has more than doubled in the past six months. The firm listed its shares in Hong Kong in March 2020.

Biogen could sell orelabrutinib, developed by InnoCare, to treat relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis around the world, the Beijing-based company said in a statement yesterday. Meanwhile, InnoCare would retain the right to sell the drug in the fields of oncology and certain autoimmune diseases in China.

The Massachusetts-headquartered company will make an initial payment of USD125 million to InnoCare, followed by potential milestone payments of up to USD812.5 million.

The global market scale of medicines used to treat MS should grow to USD48.9 billion by 2030 from the USD23 billion logged in 2018, according to data from Frost & Sullivan.

The Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor was given the green light by Chinese authorities to be used to treat relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukemia last December, marking InnoCare's first approved drug for marketing. 

Founded in 2015, InnoCare develops medicine to treat cancer and autoimmune diseases. It had four products in clinical trials by December 2020, according to its earnings report.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi