REG - GSK PLC - GSK enters Hengrui Pharma collaboration agreements

GSKAnnouncement

Mon 07:00

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RNS Number : 7678S  GSK PLC  28 July 2025

Issued: 28 July 2025, London UK

 

GSK and Hengrui Pharma enter agreements to develop up to 12 innovative
medicines across Respiratory, Immunology & Inflammation and Oncology

 

·   Includes license for potential best-in-class PDE3/4 inhibitor
(HRS-9821) in clinical development for treatment of COPD

·   Additional 11 programmes to be developed by Hengrui Pharma and optioned
by GSK following phase I completion

 

 

 

GSK plc (LSE/NYSE: GSK) today announced it has entered into agreements with
Hengrui Pharma (600276.SH; 01276.HK) to develop up to 12 innovative medicines,
adding significant new growth opportunities to the company beyond 2031. The
programmes were selected to complement GSK's extensive Respiratory, Immunology
& Inflammation (RI&I) and Oncology pipeline, and assessed for their
potential best- or first-in class profiles. GSK will pay $500 million in
upfront fees across the agreements.

 

The agreements include an exclusive worldwide license (excluding mainland
China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan) for a potential best-in-class, PDE3/4
inhibitor (HRS-9821) in clinical development for the treatment of chronic
obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as an add-on maintenance treatment,
irrespective of background therapy. The addition of HRS-9821 supports GSK's
ambition to treat patients across the widest spectrum of COPD by including
those who face continued dyspnoea (shortness of breath) or who are unlikely to
receive inhaled corticosteroids or biologics, based on their disease
profile.

 

HRS-9821 has demonstrated potent PDE3 and PDE4 inhibition, leading to
increased bronchodilation and anti-inflammatory effects in early clinical and
preclinical studies. In addition, HRS-9821 provides the opportunity for a
convenient dry-powder inhaler (DPI) formulation that strategically fits GSK's
established inhaled portfolio.

 

The agreements also include a pioneering scaled collaboration to generate up
to 11 programmes in addition to HRS-9821, each with its own financial
structure. Hengrui Pharma will lead the development of these programmes up to
completion of phase I trials, including patients outside of China. GSK will
have the exclusive option to further develop and commercialise each programme
worldwide (excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan), at the end
of phase I or earlier at GSK's election, as well as certain programme
substitution rights.

 

Tony Wood, Chief Scientific Officer, GSK said: "We're delighted to announce
these exciting agreements with Hengrui Pharma which complement our
already-extensive pipeline. This deal reflects our strategic investment in
programmes that address validated targets, increasing the likelihood of
success, and with the option to advance those assets with the greatest
potential for patient impact."

 

Frank Jiang, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Hengrui
Pharma, said: "This strategic collaboration with GSK marks yet another
significant milestone in Hengrui's globalisation journey and our mission to
innovate and deliver higher-quality, cutting-edge therapies for patients
worldwide. GSK brings additional R&D expertise, a robust global clinical
network, and broad regulatory capabilities that will accelerate our PDE3/4
inhibitor as well as an array of other innovative therapy programs to overseas
markets, potentially delivering breakthrough treatments to patients
globally."

 

The collaboration enables scale and speed to proof-of-concept to develop up to
11 additional innovative medicines. It benefits from GSK's therapy area
expertise, deep understanding of disease biology, clinical development
capability and global commercial scale with Hengrui Pharma's early discovery
engine, platform technologies, extensive pre-clinical pipeline of high-value
programmes and speed of clinical evaluation.

 

Financial considerations

GSK will pay $500 million in upfront fees across the agreements including for
the license of the PDE3/4 programme. The potential total value of future
success-based development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments to
Hengrui Pharma is approximately $12 billion if all programmes are optioned and
all milestones are achieved. In addition, Hengrui Pharma will be eligible to
receive tiered royalties on global product net sales (excluding mainland
China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan).

 

The license to HRS-9821 is subject to customary conditions, including
applicable regulatory agency clearances under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in the
US.

 

About Hengrui Pharma

Hengrui Pharma is an innovative, global pharmaceutical company dedicated to
the research, development and commercialisation of high-quality medicines to
address unmet clinical needs. With a global R&D team that includes 14
R&D centres and more than 5,500 professionals, Hengrui Pharma's
therapeutic areas of focus include oncology, metabolic and cardiovascular
diseases, immunological and respiratory diseases, and neuroscience. To date,
Hengrui has commercialised 23 new molecular entity drugs and 4 other
innovative drugs in China. Founded in 1970 with the core principle of putting
patients first, Hengrui Pharma remains committed to advancing human health by
striving to conquer diseases, improve health, and extend lives through the
power of science and technology.

 

About GSK

GSK is a global biopharma company with a purpose to unite science, technology,
and talent to get ahead of disease together. Find out more at gsk.com.

 

 GSK enquiries
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Cautionary statement regarding forward-looking statements

GSK cautions investors that any forward-looking statements or projections made
by GSK, including those made in this announcement, are subject to risks and
uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those
projected. Such factors include, but are not limited to, those described in
the "Risk Factors" section in GSK's Annual Report on Form 20-F for 2024, and
GSK's Q1 Results for 2025.

 

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