BeiGene shares jumped in Hong Kong on Friday, rebounding after steep losses Thursday when news of a patent lawsuit weighed on sentiment.
The stock gained as much as 8.3% in morning trade and was up 5.7% at 118.40 Hong Kong dollars (US$15.14) at the midday break.
The rally marked a recovery from the biotech firm’s Thursday losses, when U.S. drug maker Abbvie’s subsidiary Pharmacylics filed a lawsuit against BeiGene citing patent infringement over a type of cancer treatment.
BeiGene said in an early Friday filing that it is aware of the lawsuit. “BeiGene’s work is original, and we will vigorously defend against all allegations of patent infringement,” the company said.
Analysts reckon the lawsuit is unlikely to have significant impact on BeiGene’s sales.
“We are still analyzing the potential impact on BeiGene, especially in the U.S. market, that we believe is highly important for the company,” analysts at Nomura said in a note. “We believe the lawsuit will take some time to settle, and we see almost no impact on Beigene’s current sales from it.” They cited a similar patent infringement dispute between Pharmacylics and AstraZeneca over the same product, which led to a confidential settlement with limited sales impact for the defendant.
“However, we will continue to monitor the outcome,” the analysts added.