Hengrui Pharma reports 88.9% rise in 2026 third-quarter profit on licensing deals

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BEIJING, Oct 27 (Reuters) - Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals 600276.SS, China's biggest drugmaker by ‌market value, reported on Tuesday a rise of 88.9%  in profit for the third quarter of 2026, driven by income from out-licensing deals.
Net profit of 2.5 billion yuan ($375 million) for the quarter ended September 30 was up from 1.3 billion a year ago
The figure beat one analyst's forecast of about 1.84 billion yuan in net income, LSEG data showed 
Third-quarter operating revenue rose 21% to 9 billion yuan
Drugmakers in China are expanding licensing deals ​and developing new medicines as Beijing's centralised bulk buying programmes squeeze their revenue.
Global drugmakers are stepping up the search for China‑developed experimental medicines as they cut costs ahead of patent expiries.
Hengrui sells both generic medicines and those it has developed itself such as Hodgkin lymphoma drug AiRuiKa.
In August the company said it had completed 13 overseas business development deals since 2023.
In September Hengrui said Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk NOVOb.CO would pay up to $2.6 billion for the rights to an experimental weight-loss pill.
By the end of the first half of 2026, 10 of Hengrui's innovative medicines were in Phase I clinical development.
Hengrui reported the third quarter results after the market closed
Shares are down about 23% so ⁠far ​this year, underperforming a fall of 2% in the ​Hang Seng Biotech Index .HSBIO
In the first half of 2026, 17 of Hengrui's clinical programs had advanced to Phase III, including its experimental psoriasis drug RSS0393 and breast cancer drug HRS-8080, its interim report showed
Hengrui said innovative drug sales revenue growth improved in the third quarter, but it expected a gap to persist for the full year between growth and a target set at the start of the year

 (Reporting by Andrew Silver in Beijing; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)
 ((andrew.silver@thomsonreuters.com))