HENLIUS (02696) saw its shares rise more than 5% in morning trading. At the time of writing, the stock was up 4.64%, trading at HK$63.15 with a turnover of HK$32.62 million.

The increase follows an announcement from HENLIUS regarding the licensing of the Japanese rights for its anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, Hansizhuang (serplulimab), to Eisai. As part of the agreement, Eisai will make an upfront payment of $75 million to HENLIUS. Additionally, Eisai will pay up to $80.01 million in regulatory milestone payments and up to $233.3 million in sales milestone payments. HENLIUS will also receive double-digit tiered royalties based on the product's net sales.

Serplulimab is an innovative anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody independently developed by HENLIUS. In China, it has been approved for several indications, including squamous non-small cell lung cancer (sqNSCLC), extensive-stage small cell lung cancer (ES-SCLC), non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (nsqNSCLC), and esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC). In the European Union, serplulimab has been approved for the ES-SCLC indication, making it the world's first anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody approved for the first-line treatment of ES-SCLC.