BeiGene Stock Surges 12% On Celgene Cancer Collaboration

BeiGene Ltd. shares surged 12.6% in premarket trade Thursday on news of its cancer collaboration with Celgene Corp. . BeiGene will receive $263 million in upfront licensing fees, and is eligible for up to $980 million in milestone payments and royalties, the companies said, and Celgene will acquire 5.9% of BeiGene's shares at $59.55. BeiGene shares closed at $52.27 on Wednesday. Under the deal, the companies will work to develop and commercialize BeiGene's cancer drug BGB-A317 in solid tumor cancers in much of the world (except Asia but including Japan), while BeiGene will retain development and commercialization rights for the drug in some other areas. BeiGene will also acquire Celgene's China commercial operations and exclusively license Celgene drugs that have been approved in China. The deal is expected to close in the third quarter. Celgene shares have surged 7.2% over the last three months and BeiGene shares have surged 41.2%, compared with a 3.2% rise in the S&P 500 .