(Yicai Global) Jan. 17 -- Shares of Andon Health, a Chinese maker of home-use electronic medical devices, jumped to a record high after the US Food and Drug Administration approved the latest versions of its US unit’s Covid-19 self-test kits for emergency use.

Andon Health [SHE: 002432] surged by the 10-percent daily trading limit today to CNY82.81 (USD13.05). The shares have skyrocketed over 1,200 percent since November when the FDA approved the firm’s first home-use Covid-19 detection kit for emergency use.

IHealth Labs has received the FDA’s Emergency Use Authorization for its Covid-19 Antigen Rapid Test Pro, the new version of the Covid-19 Antigen Rapid Test, its Tianjin-based parent company said in a statement yesterday. The product can now be used in the United States and countries or regions that recognize the FDA’s EUA.

US President Joe Biden said in a White House speech on Jan. 13 that the country will buy an additional 500 million test kits to curb the spread of the omicron variant and provide free high-protection N95 masks to the public.

IHealth received a USD1.3 billion order for 250 million Covid-19 test kits from the US Army Contracting Command, Andon Health said on Jan. 14. The unit also bagged USD333 million worth of sales to the US states of New York and Massachusetts, the parent firm said on Jan. 12.

Before the pandemic, Andon Health mainly made blood pressure monitors and blood glucose meters. It made a net profit of CNY240 million (USD37.8 million) in 2020 amid strong sales of items such as forehead thermometers and oximeters. That followed losses that ballooned to CNY242 million in 2019 from CNY11.3 million (USD1.8 million) in 2013.

In the first three quarters of last year, net profit sank 86 percent to CNY50.1 million on a 51 percent drop in revenue to CNY790 million.

Editor: Futura Costaglione