(Yicai) Feb. 27 -- Shares of BeiGene advanced after the Chinese drugmaker said its net loss halved last year from the previous one.

BeiGene’s Shanghai-listed shares [SHA: 688235] were trading up 1.4 percent at CNY121.71 (USD16.91) as of 10.40 a.m. today. In Hong Kong, the company’s stock [HKG: 6160] rose 2.8 percent to HKD96.10 (USD12.28). BeiGene’s New York-traded shares [NASDAQ: BGNE] closed up 3.3 percent at USD160.26 yesterday.

Net loss totaled CNY6.7 billion (USD930.8 million) in the year ended Dec. 31, versus CNY13.6 billion (USD1.9 billion) the year before, according to the Beijing-based company’s latest annual report released yesterday.

BeiGene’s loss is related to the firm’s heavy investment in research and development. It has over 50 investigational drugs in the pipeline and plans to start first-in-human clinical trials for at least 10 new molecular entities by the end of the year.

BeiGene’s revenue soared 83 percent to CNY15.5 billion in the period, thanks to the great sales performance of its main products, cancer drugs Zanubrutinib Capsules and Tislelizumab Injection.

Zanubrutinib was approved in the US in November 2019, becoming the first Chinese original cancer drug to get greenlit abroad. It is now on sale in over 65 overseas markets.

Sales of Zanubrutinib reached USD1.3 billion last year, exceeding the threshold of USD1 billion for the first time, BeiGene noted in the earnings report.

Tislelizumab was approved in China for 12 indicators, including lung and liver cancers. BeiGene is actively promoting the drug overseas, given the fierce competition in the domestic market. In fact, Tislelizumab was approved in the European Union and United Kingdom last year.

Tislelizumab is undergoing regulatory reviews in 10 global markets, including the US. The drug is expected to be approved by the US Food and Drug Administration for first-line and second-line treatment of esophageal squamous cell carcinoma this year, BeiGene noted.

Sales of totaled USD537 million last year, of which USD128 million were in the fourth quarter alone, BeiGene said.

Editor: Futura Costaglione