Israeli biotech Biolinerx Ltd. will hand off the rights to its stem cell mobilizer, motixafortide, in Asia to China’s Gloria Biosciences Co. Ltd. via an out-licensing deal worth up to $280 million, news that sent stocks soaring nearly 13% on Oct. 31.
Shanghai-based Henlius Biotech Inc. and India’s Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. agreed upon a potential €185 million (US$195.38 million) licensing deal for Intas to develop and sell Henlius’ China NMPA-approved lung cancer drug, serplulimab, across Europe and India. Serplulimab (HLX-02) is a recombinant humanized PD-1 monoclonal antibody (MAb) injection that first gained approval as Hansizhuang in March 2022.
Drawn to the potential for improved selectivity and safety profiles of PARP-1-specific inhibitors over their first-generation counterparts, Merck KGaA signed an exclusive, worldwide license deal with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd. worth up to €1.4 billion (US$1.5 billion) to gain access to the latter’s next-generation poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP)-1 inhibitor, HRS-1167.
ABVC Biopharma Inc. entered a multiyear, global licensing agreement for its CNS drugs to treat major depressive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. The license deal with Aibtl Biopharma Inc. would cover clinical trial, registration, manufacturing, supply and distribution rights. The products were valued at $667 million by a third party, according to ABVC.
American pharma giant Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) will pick up the rights to Lianbio Co. Ltd.’s FDA-approved drug for obstructive hypertrophic cardiomyopath, Camzyos (mavacamten), in six Asian countries by paying $350 million up front and waiving some outstanding payments.
GSK plc is the latest pharma giant to bite the “magic bullet” of antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) drugs, promising to pay the Chinese immunotherapy developer Hansoh Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. $85 million up front and over $1.4 billion in milestone payments in a licensing deal for HS-20089.
Deals involving antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) therapies continue to gain momentum with Daiichi Sankyo Co. Ltd. and Merck & Co. Inc. the latest firms to team up on global development and commercialization activities, as Daiichi offers up rights to three of its potentially first-in-class ADC candidates for $22 billion, making it the largest ADC agreement to date.
With its Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) drug, vamorolone, under U.S. FDA review, Santhera Pharmaceutical AG has signed a $231 million-plus-royalties North America commercialization deal with Catalyst Pharmaceuticals Inc.
CAR T specialist Carsgen Therapeutics Holdings Ltd. out-licensed commercial rights for its B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA) CAR T therapy, CT-053, in mainland China to Huadong Medicine Co Ltd. in a deal worth up to $152 million.
Innovent Biologics Inc. has in-licensed LG Chem Ltd.’s tigulixostat (LC-350189), a late-stage non-purine xanthine oxidase inhibitor (XOI) for managing chronic hyperuricemia in patients with gout, in a deal worth up to $95 million.