Novartis punts up to $1.3 billion on Chong Kun Dang rare disease candidate

South Korea’s Chong Kun Dang Pharmaceutical's (KRX: 001630) stock soared 26.1% to end at 128,000 won on Monday, on news of a deal with Swiss pharma giant Novartis (NOVN: VX).

The Seoul-based medicine developer has signed its biggest-ever $1.3 billion out-licensing deal with Novartis for a Charcot-Marie-Tooth disease (CMT) treatment.

Chong Kun Dang has granted the Swiss company the rights to develop and commercialize its CKD-510, an investigational drug for the rare hereditary disease CMT, also known as hereditary motor and sensory neuropathy (HMSN) or peroneal muscular atrophy (PMA).