(Yicai Global) May 18 -- Shares in CanSino Biologics have surged to an all-time high today after the Tianjin-based biomedical firm got Canadian permission to run clinical trials for its Covid-19 vaccine in the country.

Its stock [HKG:6185] was trading at HKD221.40 (USD28.56) a share as of 11.18 a.m., giving it a market cap of around HKD49.3 billion (USD6.36 billion). Shares in the firm have almost quadrupled since the beginning of this year, with most of the gains coming after it began its Covid-19 vaccine efforts.

Health Canada approved the trials of Ad5-nCoV on May 15, the company said in a statement yesterday. CanSino developed the drug with a team led by Chen Wei, an academician at the People’s Liberation Army’s Academy of Military Medical Sciences.

The firm said on May 13 that it was working with Canada’s largest federal research group, the National Research Council, to push for clinical trials of the vaccine with hopes of making it available as early as this fall.

Editor: James Boynton