(Yicai) June 21 -- Shares in Luye Pharma Group advanced 3.1 percent today after the Chinese pharmaceutical company said that it has been given the green light to take its treatment for Parkinson’s disease, which is the world’s first such long-acting microspheres injection, to market in China.

Luye’s share price [HKG:2186] was trading flat at HKD2.86 (USD0.36) as 1.30 p.m. Earlier in the day it hit HKD2.95.

Luye's Jinyouping jab can help with the long-term management of Parkinson's disease, which is a neurodegenerative condition that is common in middle-aged and elderly people that affects the motor and non-motor systems and greatly affects their quality of life, the Guangzhou-based company said yesterday.

The shot should be administered once a week and is designed to release the medication for seven days or even several months, depending on clinical requirements, it said. It can reduce changes in symptoms and curb side effects caused by fluctuations in the concentration of the drug, as well as improve patients’ compliance.

Luye’s microspheres have surmounted technical barriers and broken the overseas monopoly, the company said. Difficulties in research and development as well as manufacturing are huge and only very few companies in China can achieve mass production.

In China, around 3 million people suffer from Parkinson’s, and this figure is expected to reach 5 million by 2030.

Editor: Kim Taylor