What happened
After pricing an offering of its American depositary shares (ADSs) at $101, BeiGene (BGNE 2.49%) is rallying 13.8% at 1:00 p.m. EST.
So what
BeiGene has been a hot stock since last summer when it teamed up with Celgene Corp. (CELG).
IMAGE SOURCE: GETTY IMAGES.
As part of that deal, BeiGene received rights to market Celgene's drugs in China for the next 10 years and Celgene got ex-Asia rights to BeiGene's PD-1 drug, tislelizumab, formerly BGB-A317. Celgene also acquired a 5.9% equity stake in BeiGene.
Today, BeiGene announced its priced a follow-on public offering of 7,425,750 ADSs, each representing 13 of its ordinary shares, at $101.00 per ADS. At that price, BeiGene expects to collect gross proceeds before fees of $750 million. Investors can also take advantage of an overallotment option representing an additional 495,050 ADSs.
Now what
It's busy days for BeiGene. The company has a slate of trials ongoing and planned for its PD-1 inhibitor, BTK inhibitor, and PARP inhibitor, including various combination studies. Altogether, BeiGene's working on 40 clinical trials involving over 2,000 patients, including nine planned studies of tislelizumab.
The flurry of activity means BeiGene's expenses are climbing, so news of the offering shouldn't be surprising. The money it raises via the ADS sale should put it in an excellent position to commercialize Celgene's drugs and launch its own drugs in China, including tislelizumab and its BTK-inhibitor, zanubrutinib, both of which BeiGene hopes to file for approval of this year in China.
