(Yicai Global) May 12 -- Shares of China's Wantai Biological Pharmacy Enterprise rose after the medical company said its self-developed human papillomavirus vaccine has received the first approval to be sold overseas.

Wantai's stock price [SHA: 603392] climbed 4.3 percent to close at CNY175.18 (USD25.80). The shares are still down by almost 30 percent in value in the past 12 months.

The two-valent HPV vaccine independently developed by Wantai's unit Innovax Biotech was recently given the green light for marketing by Morocco's health ministry, the Beijing-based parent said in a statement yesterday.

The product is China's first vaccine that aims to prevent cervical cancer. China’s National Medical Products Administration gave the jab its approval in late 2019 and sales began in May 2020. Besides Morocco, Wantai has applied to register the product in Thailand, Nepal, Kazakhstan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Cambodia, and Kenya since last October.

The product has been extremely popular in China. Wantai's sales of the HPV vaccine exceeded CNY3.2 billion (USD480 million) in 2021, making up more than 56 percent of its total revenue that year. In the first quarter of this year, Wantai's revenue jumped almost four times from a year ago and its net profit surged almost five times due to strong sales.

The latest permit means that the HPV vaccine can be exported to Morocco, which will impose positive influences on Wantai's expansion in international markets, said the firm.

The global production capacity of HPV vaccines is insufficient as the market demand is quite large, said the company. Wantai can produce 30 million doses per year and is likely to boost the capacity based on demand.

Girls in China have other options for HPV vaccines. London-based GlaxoSmithKline, US multinational pharmaceutical company Merck Sharp & Dohme, and Yunnan province-based Walvax Biotechnology have all gained approvals for their related products in China.

Editor: Emmi Laine, Xiao Yi