For the past three years, biotechs and pharmas have renamed, rebranded and more in a bid to refresh their corporate appeal.
Now, we can count biopharma BeiGene among their ranks as the old iteration of the company is no more: Meet BeOne Medicines Ltd., the new name for the cancer drug maker that launches a new branding journey, shedding the old identity formed back during the company's 2010 inception.
There’s some detailed thinking behind the shift. In a release posted Thursday morning, the biopharma broke down its reasoning.
The “Be” component “represents the fundamental goal of any patient with cancer—simply to be free of disease,” the company said in its statement, while the “One” is about the unity of the company and its mission to cure cancer for patients.
There is also a new logo (pictured above) that changes the look of “One” to “Onc,” in red, which is set up to “illustrate our redoubled commitment to oncology.” "ONC" will become the company’s new ticker on the Nasdaq once all this is approved by shareholders (a process that's usually a formality).
Within the “One,” there is also a power on/off button within the last “e” which, the company said in its release, “represents our always 'on' approach in pursuing novel medicines that turn cancer 'off.'”
The tilted angle of the button is designed to show up the pathway of creating cancer meds, “which is not always straight-forward as we push the boundaries of science.”
This all comes as the company becomes a major cancer player, with its star commercial medicine, blood cancer therapy Brukinsa, more than doubling sales in the last financial year, crossing the blockbuster threshold to hit $1.3 billion.
It’s also working on boosting sales of its new solid tumor and PD-1 inhibitor Tevimbra (tislelizumab), while also looking to make good on the promise within its pipeline.
The company recently opened its $800 million flagship clinical R&D and manufacturing facility at the Princeton West Innovation Campus in Hopewell, New Jersey, back in July. The biopharma has headquarters in China, Switzerland the U.S.
“We all must work together to win, which is why we are committed to playing a critical role and unifying the global community in the fight against cancer. Our focus is to not only bring innovative medicines to as many people as possible, but also to identify and address the challenges that impede access, making treatments more accessible and affordable,” John Oyler, co-founder, chairman and CEO at BeiGene, said in a statement.
“We have already helped more than 1.4 million patients, and with one of the most prolific oncology pipelines, this year we will bring more than 10 new potential medicines into the clinic. I look forward to our next chapter of growth as BeOne.”
This follows the lead of around a dozen biotechs and some Big Pharmas that have changed their names in recent years. This includes GSK (slashed down from GlaxoSmithKline); Bristol Myers Squibb (now minus the hyphen); a new logo and corporate branding for Pfizer; and the same for Sanofi, which also officially dropped the Aventis from its name.