What happened
Shares of BeiGene (BGNE 3.08%) rose 14.3% by late Thursday afternoon and closed the day 12.48% higher. The Chinese biotech company recently signed a collaboration deal with Israel biotech company Enlivex Therapeutics to evaluate the safety and efficacy of cancer therapy Allocetra as a combination therapy with tislelizumab, which BeiGene will supply, to treat advanced-stage solid tumors. BeiGene's shares are up more than 8% so far this year.
So what
The collaboration deal was only part of the reason for the stock's surge. U.S.-listed Chinese stocks in general have been climbing higher on improving economic data coming out of China. Goldman Sachs said it sees Chinese stocks rising by as much as 24% by the end of this year.
BeiGene is coming off a strong fourth-quarter and full-year report. It said revenue in the quarter was $380.1 million, up 72.3% year over year. Fiscal 2022 revenue was $1.4 billion, an increase of 97.9%.
The company attributed the rise to improved sales from its Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor Brukinsa, used to treat several B cell cancers, as well as increased sales of tislelizumab, an anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody, plus revenue from Amgen in-licensed products and Novartis collaboration revenue.
Now what
All that said, as encouraging as BeiGene's revenue jump is, the company is still losing money. In the fourth quarter, it reported a net loss of $445.3 million, down from a $590.7 million loss, and for the year, it lost $2 billion, up from the $1.457 billion it lost in 2021.
The other risk for BeiGene is whether the stock might be delisted if U.S. regulators find the company hasn't been forthcoming in its accounting practices, a common concern among Chinese companies. In the long term, however, the stock has potential, with more than 60 clinical programs in its pipeline.
