Factbox: Major drugmakers turn to China for licensing deals
FACTBOX-Major drugmakers turn to China for licensing deals Updates dateline, rewrites lede and adds Roche-Rona Therapeutics deal
Oct 13 (Reuters) - Rona Therapeutics said on Tuesday it has signed a licensing deal worth up to $1.16 billion with Swiss drugmaker Roche ROPC.S for an experimental obesity drug candidate.
It is the latest in a wave of deals between Chinese biotech companies and global drugmakers.
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 |
October 2026 | Roche ROPC.S | Rona Therapeutics | Licensing | Experimental RNAi drug targeting ALK7 for obesity and metabolic diseases | $100 million | Up to $1.16 billion |
October 2026 | NovartisNOVN.S | Abogen | Licensing | ABO2203, experimental RNA-based therapy for autoimmune conditions | $575 million | Up to $7.8 billion |
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, Kunal Das, Padmanabhan Ananthan and Kamal Choudhury in Bengaluru; Editing by Sahal Muhammed)
((siddhi.mahatole@thomsonreuters.com;))