The market value of bio shares has grown at the fastest clip on the Seoul bourse over the past four years, with Hanmi Pharmaceutical leading the rally on the back of mega license agreements, data showed Sunday.

The market cap of bio shares on the KOSPI market came to 28.53 trillion won ($24.57 billion) as of Friday, up from 10.23 trillion won at end-2011 and more than double from a year ago, according to the data by the Korea Exchange.

The ratio of bio and health care stocks on the KOSPI rose from 0.98 percent of the total in 2011 to 2.27 percent over the period, the bourse operator said. 

Hanmi Pharmaceutical was the top earner in the sector, seeing its market cap rise from 417.9 billion won in 2011 to 8.12 trillion won at the end of November.

This year, the South Korean drugmaker has bagged six deals on licensing of its pipeline products and collaborative research and development of early treatment for lung cancer and diabetes, which are worth a combined 7.6 trillion won. (Yonhap)