(Yicai Global) April 14 -- Fosun Pharmaceutical’s shares climbed after a unit of the Chinese drug giant received the go-ahead to market its self-developed Covid-19 antigen test kit in China.

After jumping as much as 5.7 percent in Shenzhen today, Fosun Pharma’s shares [SHA: 600196] ended 2.8 percent higher at CNY46.40 (USD7.29) each. Its Hong Kong-listed stock [HKG: 2196] gained 4.5 percent to HKD34.50 (USD4.40), pulling back from an earlier 7.6 percent gain.

Fosun Diagnostics won approval from China’s National Medical Products Administration to market the new home-use Covid-19 test kit, its Shanghai-based parent company said yesterday.

Fosun Pharma said the kit had already secured the European Union’s Conformite Europeenne marking, which certifies that a product has met EU health, safety, and environmental requirements, completed BfArM registration in Germany, and was included in the EU Health Security Committee’s Common List.

Its China approval will boost the product’s sales, help combat Covid, and bolster Fosun Pharma’s financial performance, the company said, adding that the actual impact on earnings will depend on the pandemic situation, raw material supplies, and production capacity.

According to current Covid-19 restrictions in China, antigen test kits are used only as a supplementary diagnostic. If a self-test is positive, a nucleic acid test is required to confirm the person has been infected.

Earnings at makers of antigen test kits have climbed, driven higher by surging demand amid the global spread of the infectious omicron variant. On April 12, leading producer Andon Health said it expected net profit of between CNY14 billion and CNY16 billion for the first quarter, up 367 to 420 times from a year earlier.

Since that date, the Tianjin-based company’s stock price [SHE: 002432] has surged by the 10 percent exchange-imposed limit for three days in a row. It ended today at CNY90.11 (USD14.14).

Editor: Futura Costaglione