(Yicai) Oct. 30 -- Shares of Junshi Biosciences jumped after the Food and Drug Administration approved the Chinese biopharmaceutical company's monoclonal antibody cancer drug for sale in the United States.

Junshi Bio [SHA: 688180] was trading up 5 percent at CNY45.53 (USD6.22) as of today's lunch break in Shanghai. Its Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG: 1877] soared 7.5 percent to HKD21.30 (USD2.72).

Toripalimab, which will use the name of Loqtorzi in the US, was approved to treat adult patients of late-stage nasopharynx cancer, the Shanghai-based company announced late yesterday, citing a notice recently issued by the FDA.

Toripalimab is the first nasopharynx cancer treatment and the first innovative biomedicine independently researched, developed, and produced by a Chinese biopharmaceutical firm to be approved in the US, Junshi Bio said.

Toripalimab is also the first domestically developed monoclonal antibody agent taking PD-1 as the target spot that wins approval for sale in the Chinese market, the firm added, noting that the innovative drug has been approved for use on all six indications by now.

The commercial development rights and interests of Toripalimab in the US and Canada were exclusively awarded to Coherus Biosciences, a Nasdaq-listed biomedicine firm, Junshi Bio announced in February 2021. With the deal, Junshi Bio was set to secure USD1.1 billion worth of installments and milestone payments, as well as annual research and development fees, and it will also receive and sales commissions after it is regulatorily approved for market.

Junshi also reached partnerships with the UK's Hikama, India's Dr. Reddy's, and Singapore's Rxilient Biotech over Toripalimab in other regional markets covering over 50 countries in America, the Middle East, North Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Editor: Futura Costaglione