(Yicai Global) June 6 -- Shares of Kexing Bioproducts jumped after the Chinese drugmaker said a unit has signed an agreement with Salubris Pharmaceuticals to develop and manufacture an oral treatment for Covid-19.

Kexing [SHA: 688136] closed 6.5 percent higher at CNY30.03 (USD4.52) today, after earlier soaring as much as 11.3 percent. Salubris’ stock [SHE: 002294] ended up 1.3 percent at CNY25.85.

Shenzhen Salubris Pharmaceuticals and its wholly owned subsidiary Huizhou Salubris Pharmaceutical will provide contract development and manufacturing organization services for Kexing’s small molecule oral drug SHEN26, which is still in pre-clinical development, Jinan-based Kexing said late yesterday, citing the deal its Shenzhen subsidiary inked with Salubris and its unit.

Kexing announced on Feb. 20 a CNY100 million (USD15.8 million) deal to obtain exclusive worldwide rights to Shenzhen-based AntiV BioPharma’s SHEN26. The treatment, for which Kexing has concluded all pharmaceutical and non-clinical studies, belongs to the same category of drugs as Remdesivir, another RNA-dependent RNA polymerase inhibitor used to treat Covid-19 patients in hospital.

Kexing said Salubris and its unit will provide technical services such as pilot plant production of SHEN26 for use in clinical trials and assessment of the manufacturing technique it designed during the drug registration stage. They are also contracted to mass produce the new drug and its ingredients, the firm added.

For the year-long technical partnership, Kexing will pay Salubris CNY8.9 million (USD1.3 million), while for the five-year commercial production partnership, which is subject to regulatory approval, the firm will pay for production, processing, and management based on how much of the drug is actually provided, Kexing said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione