(Bloomberg) -- China’s leading innovative cancer drugmaker BeiGene Ltd. plans to change its name to BeOne Medicines as part of a rebranding to support its growth ambitions in markets including the US and Europe.
The proposed name reflects the company’s mission to unite the global community against cancer, it said in a statement Thursday. The renaming needs shareholders’ approval, post which the company would change its Nasdaq ticker from BGNE to ONC in a nod to its commitment to oncology.
BeiGene’s move to forgo its name that was in part inspired by the Chinese capital city Beijing comes amid US-China geopolitical tensions spilling into the bioscience space, threatening cross-border ties in academic research, drug manufacturing and investments. Despite the pressure, biotech and pharmaceutical companies have continued to collaborate and operate internationally, for now.
Read: What the US Biosecure Act Means for Chinese Firms: QuickTake
Founded in 2010, BeiGene was among the first generation of startups to bet on Chinese scientists’ ability to discover and develop innovative medicines – and quickly. It’s also arguably the first China-grown cancer drugmaker to crack the US market, beginning with a blood cancer therapy that it hopes can topple the current market leader after showing better efficacy in clinical trials. Throughout the first three quarters of this year, BeiGene said 50% or more of its total revenue came from the US.
As it makes a deeper foray into more lucrative pharmaceutical markets, BeiGene has increasingly emphasized the global nature of its business in public communications. The company, which employs 11,000 people in more than 45 countries, now counts Cambridge, MA, and Basel, Switzerland, as its headquarters alongside Beijing.
Its Chinese name, which bears a similar pronunciation to BeiGene, will remain the same, the company wrote on WeChat.
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