3Sbio Inc.’s subsidiary, Sunshine Guojian Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., has licensed out the global rights of its anti-PD-1 antibody candidate, 609-A, to Florida-based Syncromune Inc. in a deal the company said is worth up to “hundreds of millions of U.S. dollars.”

Sperogenix Therapeutics Ltd. has acquired exclusive greater China rights to Santhera Pharmaceuticals Holding AG’s glucocorticoid analogue vamorolone in a deal worth up to $124 million.

While the $118.3 billion raised by biopharma companies in 2021 through public and private transactions is 12% lower than the amount raised the prior year, it still represents an impressive financings record, led primarily by IPOs and venture capital rounds.

The pandemic has forced pharma and biotech to be more agile to better navigate the obstacles and still find success. Supply chain gaps are part of the problem, as are clinical trial delays. Yet the industry has successfully forged ahead in the past year to produce the seven drugs Clarivate believes in the next five years will each earn more than $1 billion annually.

Barely two weeks into the year, Shanghai Junshi Biosciences Co. Ltd. has already locked down an out-licensing deal and an in-licensing agreement. In a follow-up to their $1.1 billion deal a year ago, Coherus Biosciences Inc. has moved ahead with the right to exercise its option to license Junshi’s JS-006, a recombinant humanized IgG4k monoclonal antibody targeting T cell immunoglobulin and ITIM domain protein (TIGIT). Separately, Junshi has in-licensed antibody “modules,” or Dotbodies, from Dotbio Pte. Ltd. for use in oncology and the development of several multispecific antibodies.