Stars in China

A major clinical flop and a spate of weak earnings reports by U.S. large cap biotechs reverberated throughout the sector in the fourth quarter, breaking a three-quarter-long streak of outperformance. Across all market cap bands, $15 billion in global equity value was erased.

Several Chinese biotechs, however, stood out despite the noise. The biggest gainers in each of the top three market cap bands are Chinese companies working on or quickly moving into innovative therapies or technologies...