vTv Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: VTVT) shares saw a massive gain early on Thursday after the firm announced an exclusive licensing agreement with Newsoara Biopharma. This deal is for the rights to develop and commercialize vTv Therapeutics’ PDE4 Inhibitor program in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and other Pacific Rim countries.

Under the terms of the agreement, vTv Therapeutics will receive an upfront payment, which was not disclosed, and will be eligible to receive future development and commercialization milestones, as well as royalties on sales of approved products. Newsoara will develop HPP737 in the covered territories for respiratory and other inflammatory diseases.

Prior to the stock moving, vTv Therapeutics had a market cap of roughly $55 million. On the books, the company had $11.9 million in cash and cash equivalents as of the end of 2017, though this number has been dwindling over the past few years.

Excluding Thursday’s move, vTv had underperformed the broad markets, with its stock down 67% in the past 52 weeks. In just 2018 alone, the stock was down 72%.

Steve Holcombe, CEO of vTv Therapeutics, commented:

We are excited to partner with Newsoara, an innovative biotechnology company in China with an outstanding experienced management team, led by Dr. Benny Li, to develop and commercialize our PDE4 program in the licensed Asian countries,” “This represents our second partnership to introduce potential new therapies into the China market which speaks to the importance of that market.

Shares of vTv closed Wednesday at $1.66, with a consensus analyst price target of $1.67 and a 52-week trading range of $0.65 to $8.40. Following the announcement, the stock was up about 46% at $2.43 in early trading indications Thursday.

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