(Yicai) July 31 -- Shares of Bio-Thera Solutions soared after the Chinese biopharmaceutical company said its self-developed monoclonal antibody drug for cancer treatment was approved in the European Union.

Bio-Thera [SHA: 688177] closed up 12.6 percent at CNY21.87 (USD3.03) in Shanghai today.

Bevacizumab injection Avzivi has received marketing approval for the treatment of nearly 10 cancer diseases, including metastatic colorectal cancer and metastatic breast cancer, from the European Commission, the Guangzhou-based company announced yesterday.

Bevacizumab injection is a humanized monoclonal antibody that inhibits the growth of tumor cells by blocking their receptors from binding with vascular endothelial growth factors, Bio-Thera noted.

Avzivi, which is marketed as Pobevcy in the Chinese market by BeiGene, was approved for use in China in November 2021 and in the United States at the end of last year.

In September 2021, Bio-Thera granted exclusive commercialization rights to Avzivi in Canada, Europe, the US, and other international markets to Sandoz, a subsidiary of Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis. Sandoz agreed to pay an upfront payment of USD27.5 million, milestone payments of up to USD127.5 million, and a double-digit percentage of the drug’s sales.

Bio-Thera’s revenue surged 55 percent to CNY705 million (USD97.2 million) last year from the previous one, mainly because increased Pobevcy sales led to higher drug sales commissions and milestone income.

Editor: Futura Costaglione