(Yicai Global) Aug. 5 -- Beigene’s shares surged after the Chinese biopharmaceutical company’s product sales jumped 130 percent in the first half of the year.

Beigene [SHA: 688235] was trading up 11.3 percent at CNY111.23 (USD16.49) as of 1.25 p.m. today. Its Hong Kong-listed shares [HKG: 6160] rose 10 percent to HKD114.40 (USD14.57). The company’s stock in New York [NASDAQ: BGNE] closed 12.6 percent up at USD191.08 yesterday.

Sales revenue was CNY3.7 billion (USD566 million) in the six months ended June 30, versus CNY1.6 billion a year earlier, according to the earnings report the Beijing-based company released yesterday. Net loss widened 168 percent to CNY6.7 billion, and revenue fell 14 percent to CNY4.2 billion.

The leap in sales revenue was mostly due to the sales growth of Beigene’s self-developed products Zanubrutinib Capsules and Tislelizumab Injection. Global sales of Zanubrutinib, a Bruton tyrosine kinase inhibitor and China’s first innovative drug to be launched overseas, exceeded CNY1.5 billion in the first half, versus CNY417 million in the same period last year. Domestic sales of Tislelizumab, a PD-1 tumor drug, soared 62.5 percent to CNY1.3 billion in the period.

The demand from new patients with the expansion of medical insurance reimbursement continued boosting Tislelizumab’s market penetration and market share in the treatment of approved indications, Beigene said.

Operating loss increased by CNY4.1 billion to CNY6.4 billion, mainly because of the CNY2.8 billion plunge in collaboration revenue and the appreciation of the US dollar against the Chinese yuan that resulted in an exchange loss of CNY771 million, BeiGene noted.

Collaboration revenue declined because Beigene confirmed USD650 million worth of prepayment from Novartis in the first half of last year for a cooperation on Tislelizumab.

Beigene’s research and development investment exceeded USD768 million in the first half, compared with USD676.8 million in the same period a year ago.

Editor: Futura Costaglione