(Bloomberg) -- Sino Biopharmaceutical Ltd.’s invoX Pharma unit has won approval from the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to proceed with its $161 million takeover of F-star Therapeutics Inc.

The companies announced the agreement in a statement on Tuesday that confirmed an earlier Bloomberg News report. The CFIUS clearance is the final regulatory approval required to complete the deal, which the companies now expect will happen promptly, they said.

invoX Pharma agreed last year to buy Cambridge, Massachusetts-based F-star for $7.12 a share in cash. The companies said in January that they were actively negotiating with CFIUS to address concerns about potential national security risks stemming from the deal. Shares of F-star jumped as much as 17% in early trading in New York on Tuesday, rising to just below the bid price. 

F-star is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company specializing in immunotherapies. It has more than 500 granted patents and pending patent applications relating to its platform technology and product pipeline, according to a statement last year announcing the invoX deal.

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