REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo Acquire Licensing RightsLONDON/SHANGHAI Oct 9 (Reuters) - China's largest vaccines company Zhifei (300122.SZ) will pay British drugmaker GSK (GSK.L) 2.5 billion pounds ($3.05 billion pound) for the exclusive rights to distribute GSK's shingles vaccine in the world's No.2 pharmaceuticals market.
The deal with Zhifei is part of its efforts to reach more 4 billion pounds ($4.88 billion) in sales by 2026, GSK said.
Zhifei will purchase volumes of Shingrix with a value to GSK worth 2.5 billion pounds over an initial three-year period, GSK said.
Zhifei shares were up as much as 20% to 58.40 yuan ($8.00) following the filing, their highest point since March 27.
Shingrix is currently GSK's biggest product and strongest growth driver, taking in 1.71 billion pounds in first-half sales, up 20% from a year prior.
Persons:
Dado Ruvic, Zhifei, Shingrix, Maggie Fick, Andrew Silver, Eva Mathews, Savio D'Souza, Louise Heavens
Organizations:
GSK, GlaxoSmithKline, REUTERS, British, AstraZeneca, Zhifei, Barclays, Reuters, Thomson
Locations:
SHANGHAI, China, United States, London, Shanghai, Bengaluru