Shares of Unilife Corporation (ASX: UNS) have more than doubled in price today, rising as much as 150% at one point to a high of 30 cents. They've since retreated to 29 cents, up 142% for the day.
So What: Based in the United States, Unilife is a small healthcare business that designs, develops, manufactures and supplies injectable drug delivery systems that can both enhance and differentiate the drugs or vaccines being delivered.
Today's strong gains came after the group announced it had entered into a Material Definitive Agreement with Amgen Inc., which also paid Unilife a $15 million non-refundable deposit. The agreement follows Unilife's previous announcement stating it was reviewing strategic alternatives and partnerships, together with the licensing of some of its proprietary products.
Unilife will develop, manufacture and supply wearable injector devices for use in certain large volume drug products of Amgen, as well as some small-volume drug products, with Amgen to pay Unilife an amount for each device it manufactures.
Now What: Although shareholders will no doubt be pleased to see their shares more than double in price today, many are still sitting on a painful loss over the last 12 months. Indeed, the shares recently hit a low of just 10 cents, down from $1 in February.