Factbox: Major drugmakers turn to China for licensing deals
FACTBOX-Major drugmakers turn to China for licensing deals Changes dateline, rewrites lede and headline, adds European drugmakers to the list throughout
Sept 30 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO said on Tuesday it will pay up to $2.6 billion to Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals 600276.SS for the rights to an experimental weight-loss pill, making it the latest drugmaker to license China-developed medicines.
Chinese biotechs often retain domestic rights and license their drugs overseas in exchange for upfront and milestone payments as well as royalties.
Some major deals are listed below:
Date | US-/EU-/UK-based company | Chinese company | Deal type | Assets/programs | Upfront value | Potential value |
September 2026 | Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO | Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals 600276.SS | Licensing | HRS-1596, experimental weight-loss pill | $300 million | Up to $2.6 billion |
September 2026 | Merck MRK.N | SciBrunch Therapeutics | Licensing | SPR2015, experimental cancer drug | $400 million | Up to $2.13 billion |
September 2026 | GSK GSK.L | HUTCHMED (China)0013.HK | Licensing | HMPL-A830, experimental drug for solid tumours | $110 million | Up to $1.31 billion |
September 2026 | Roche ROPC.S | Simcere Pharmaceutical Group 2096.HK | Licensing | SIM0660, experimental blood cancer drug | $75 million | Up to $1.54 billion |
May 2026 | Pfizer PFE.N | Innovent Biologics 1801.HK | Licensing | 12 early-stage oncology programs | $650 million | Up to $10.5 billion |
May 2026 | Bristol Myers Squibb BMY.N | Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals 600276.SS | Licensing | 13 early-stage programs in oncology, hematology and immunology | $600 million | Up to $15.2 billion |
February 2026 | Eli Lilly LLY.N | Innovent Biologics | Licensing | Experimental cancer and immunology drugs | $350 million | Up to $8.85 billion |
January 2026 | Novartis NOVN.S | SciNeuro Pharmaceuticals | Licensing | Antibody treatments and drug-delivery technology for Alzheimer’s disease | $165 million | Up to nearly $1.7 billion |
January 2026 | AstraZeneca AZN.L | CSPC Pharmaceutical Group 1093.HK | Licensing | SYH2082 and other experimental drugs for obesity and weight-related conditions | $1.2 billion | Up to $18.5 billion |
January 2026 | AbbVie ABBV.N | RemeGen 688331.SS | Licensing | RC148, experimental cancer drug | $650 million | Up to $5.6 billion |
October 2025 | Roche | Hansoh Pharma 3692.HK | Licensing | Experimental treatment for colorectal cancer and other solid tumours | $80 million | Up to $1.53 billion |
September 2025 | Novartis | Argo Biopharmaceutical | Licensing | Experimental drugs for cardiovascular diseases | $160 million | Up to $5.36 billion |
July 2025 | GSK | Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals | Licensing | HRS-9821 for chronic lung disease and options for 11 other programmes | $500 million | Up to $12.5 billion |
June 2025 | Regeneron Pharmaceuticals REGN.O | Hansoh Pharma | Licensing | HS-20094/olatorepatide, GLP-1/GIP obesity drug | $80 million | Up to $2.01 billion |
May 2025 | Pfizer | 3SBio 1530.HK | Licensing | SSGJ-707, experimental cancer drug | $1.25 billion | Up to $6.05 billion, not including Pfizer's $100 million equity investment |
March 2025 | Novo Nordisk | United Laboratories International 3933.HK | Licensing | UBT251, so-called "triple-G" weight-loss drug candidate | $200 million | Up to $2 billion |
December 2024 | Merck | Hansoh Pharma 3692.HK | Licensing | HS-10535, oral weight-loss pill | $112 million | Up to $2 billion |
November 2024 | Merck | LaNova Medicines | Licensing | LM-299, experimental cancer drug | $588 million | Up to $3.3 billion |
June 2024 | AbbVie | FutureGen Biopharmaceutical | Licensing | FG-M701, experimental inflammatory bowel disease drug | $150 million | Up to $1.71 billion |
December 2023 | Bristol Myers Squibb | Sichuan Biokin Pharmaceutical 688506.SS /SystImmune | Licensing | BL-B01D1, experimental antibody cancer drug | $800 million | Up to $8.4 billion |
November 2023 | AstraZeneca AZN.L | Eccogene | Licensing | ECC5004, experimental oral obesity and diabetes drug, later renamed AZD5004 | $185 million | Up to about $2.01 billion |
April 2023 | BioNTech 22UAy.DE | Duality Biologics | Co-develop agreement | DB-1303 and DB-1311, experimental cancer antibody-drug conjugates | $170 million | Up to $1.7 billion |
December 2022 | Summit Therapeutics SMMT.O | Akeso 9926.HK | Licensing | Ivonescimab, experimental cancer therapy | $500 million | Up to $5 billion |
(Reporting by Siddhi Mahatole and Kunal Das in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
((siddhi.mahatole@thomsonreuters.com;))