Shionogi & Co. Ltd. will acquire global rights to U.S. FDA approved amyotrophic lateral sclerosis therapy edaravone through a $2.5 billion acquisition deal with Tanabe Pharma Corp. Under the terms, Tanabe will form a new entity harboring both oral and intravenous (I.V.) infusion formulations of edaravone that are marketed in the U.S. as Radicava ORS and I.V. Radicava.

Jacobio Pharmaceuticals Group Co. Ltd. is outlicensing its phase I pan-KRAS inhibitor, JAB-23E73, to Astrazeneca plc in a global deal worth up to $1.915 billion that gives Astrazeneca global rights to the compound outside of China, and the two companies will jointly develop and commercialize the asset in China.

Harbour Biomed has added another collaboration to its end-of-year dealmaking, this time with Bristol Myers Squibb Co. (BMS) to develop multispecific antibodies. Harbour is getting about $90 million up front, but milestones could eventually top $1 billion.

Big pharma is increasingly shopping in China to fill its pipelines as it faces looming patent cliffs on major blockbusters coupled with growing pricing pressures on drugs. As previously reported by BioWorld, China’s out-licensing deals grew to represent 32% of global deals in the first half of 2025, up from 21% in 2024, and only 5% in 2020, Jefferies Hong Kong-based analyst Cui Cui wrote in a July 2025 report on China dealmaking.

ADEL Inc. closed a year-end licensing deal worth up to $1.04 billion with Sanofi SA for ADEL-Y01, a specific tau-targeting Alzheimer’s disease drug candidate in a U.S. phase I study.

Experience gained in the Asia-Pacific region is helping shape the Menarini Group’s global strategy as the Italian pharmaceutical company looks to emerging markets to drive long-term, sustainable growth.

Formation Bio Inc. acquired ex-China rights to Lynk Pharmaceuticals Co. Ltd.’s oral TYK2-inhibitor, LNK-01006, for up to $605 million. The phase I-ready central nervous system (CNS) candidate will be developed at Formation’s newly formed subsidiary, Bleecker Bio.

China’s clinical trial volume has surged to nearly U.S. scale and now tops Europe, sitting at about 80% of U.S. levels and roughly 10% above the EU in 2024.

The quest for metabolic disease assets continues with another player promising top dollar for novel therapeutics that deliver. Copenhagen, Denmark-based Zealand Pharma A/S entered a collaboration and license agreement with newly formed OTR Therapeutics to pursue next-generation small-molecule therapeutics, beyond the Danish firm’s current peptide pipeline candidates focused on the GLP-1, GLP-2, GIP, amylin and glucagon mechanisms.

Crescent Biopharma Inc. teamed with Sichuan Kelun-Biotech Biopharmaceutical Co. Ltd. to generate “parallel” data of its PD-1/VEGF bispecific antibody, CR-001. The goal is to get 2027 readouts of the bispecific as a monotherapy and as a combination therapy with antibody-drug conjugates in both the U.S. and China.