What happened
Shares of Chinese pharmaceutical BeiGene (BGNE -1.85%) rose as high as 12.8% in early trading on Wednesday. The stock opened at $179.86, then climbed to a daily high of $202.90 in the first hour of trading. The stock has a 52-week low of $118.18 and a 52-week high of $368.50. The stock is down more than 28% so far this year.
So what
BeiGene didn't make any big announcements, and its earnings report was back on Nov. 9, so the move was curious. Most likely, it was just a little bit of a return to normalcy after the stock took a beating when there were protests in China regarding the country's strict lockdown "zero tolerance" provisions regarding COVID-19. BeiGene had a promising third-quarter report and one of its therapies, Brukinsa, was just approved by the European Commission on Nov. 22 to treat adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL). The drug is the only Bruton's tyrosine kinase inhibitor therapy to do better in clinical trials on relapsed and refractory CLL than Imbruvica.
In the third quarter, the company reported revenue of $349.5 million, up 82%, year over year, led by Brukinsa revenue of $155.5 million, up 136% over the same period last year. However, the company also reported a net loss of $557.6 million, or an earnings per share (EPS) loss of $5.33 compared to a loss of $413.9 million and an EPS loss of $4.42 in the third quarter of 2021.
Now what
In the long term, the biotech company's success with Brukinsa is probably a bigger deal than the impact that protests in China may or may not be having on the company's production. Of greater concern is how soon the company can become profitable and whether it might be delisted in the United States over accounting concerns with Chinese companies.
