(Yicai Global) Feb. 3 -- Ascletis Pharma's stock price surged after the Chinese drugmaker said that its new medicine has helped three patients, suffering from coronavirus-caused pneumonia, to recover.

Ascletis's shares [HK: 1672] climbed by 26.75 percent to HKD5.26 (US 68 cents) in the afternoon, notching the highest level since last June. The Hang Seng Index rose 0.47 percent. 

Central Henan province's health authorities confirmed on Jan. 31 that three patients have been cured after taking Ascletis's equivalent to Lopinavir/Ritonavir, the Hangzhou-based firm said in a statement today. Lopinavir/Ritonavir is a human immunodeficiency virus treatment developed by a unit of US drug giant Abbott Laboratories.

The novel coronavirus has caused 361 deaths and infected over 17,200 people in China, prompting scientists to speed up drug and vaccine development.

Ascletis has filed with the National Medical Products Administration to qualify its Lopinavir/Ritonavir and ASC09/Ritonavir, two products with similar effects, to go through the emergency registration channel.

More than 20 patients taking Ascletis's drugs in eastern Zhejiang province have also tested negative to the virus, the firm added in today's statement.

Editor: Emmi Laine