Update: 2022’s Top 10 Cross-border Licensing Deals Involving Chinese Biopharma Companies
In the first half of 2022, Chinese pharmaceuticals companies have taken part in multiple licensing deals. The in-licensing deals, in which Chinese companies are licensees, highlight artificial intelligence (AI)-assisted drug R&D and COVID-19 vaccines/drugs.
Out-licensing deals, in which Chinese companies were licensors, are mostly in the field of oncology. The following are the major in-licensing deals and out-licensing deals in H1 2022.
Top 20 In-licensing Deals with Chinese Licensees
According to Pharmcube Database, there were 57 licensing deals between 43 Chinese/overseas licensors and Chinese licensees in H1 2022. Among the licensees, 28 were Chinese companies and 15 were companies based in other countries, including the U.S., Sweden, South Korea, and the U.K..1
No. | Licensor | Licensee | Asset(s) | Upfront fee (USD mln) | Total value (USD mln) |
1 | Heidelberg | Huadong Medicine | HDP-103, HDP-101; HDP-102, HDP-104 | 20 | 1,044.9 |
2 | Kiniksa Pharmaceuticals | Huadong Medicine | Rilonacept; Mavrilimumab | 22 | 662 |
3 | Bavarian Nordic | Nuance Pharma | MVA-BN RSV | 12.5 | 225 |
4 | NiKang Therapeutics | Hansoh Pharma | NKT2152 | 15 | 218 |
5 | A*STAR | Everest Medicines | EDDC-2214 | 2.5 | 214.5 |
6 | OBI Pharma | Odeon Therapeutics | OBI-833; OBI-999 | 12 | 200 |
7 | Palleon | Henlius | Bifunctional HER2-Sialidase; a second bifunctional sialidase | / | 196.5+ |
8 | Sunshine Guojian | Xiling Lab | Inetetamab | / | 158.3 |
9 | Hanmi | AffaMed Therapeutics | Risuteganib | 6 | 145 |
10 | Aurealis Therapeutics | Xbiome | AUP-16 | / | 139 |
11 | Visus Therapeutics | Zhaoke Ophthalmology | BRIMOCHOL PF; Carbachol PF | 15 | 130 |
12 | Verlmmune | Fosun Pharma | VERI-101 | 2 | 125 |
13 | Santhera | Sperogenix | Vamorolone | / | 124 |
14 | LENZ Therapeutics | JIXING Pharmaceuticals | LNZ100 (aceclidine); LNZ101 (aceclidine + brimonidine) | 15 | 110 |
15 | AKSO Biopharmaceutical | Huadong Medicine | AB002 (AKSO) | / | 75 |
16 | Xuanzhu Biopharm | Shanghai Pharmaceuticals | Plazomicin; Benapenem | 3.2 | 67.9 |
17 | Anyuan Medical Technology | Chai Tai Tianqing | AP025; AP026 | / | 52.8 |
18 | RNACure | Walvax | RQ3013 | 0.77 | 20.84 |
19 | Ligand Pharmaceuticals | China Res Double-Crane | LGN-20 | / | 20.75 |
20 | Antaiwei | Kexing Biopharm | SHEN26 | 3.1 | 15.4 |
Notes: “/” means the payment information is not made public. | |||||
For in-licensing deals, AI and COVID-19 vaccines/drugs are two hot areas. In the first half of 2022, five licensing deals were completed, all between Chinese companies.
In terms of AI-powered drug R&D, Fosun Pharma and Insilico Medicine agreed on using AI to develop drugs against multiple targets, including QPCTL. The upfront fee reached 13 million USD, the highest among those of the licensing deals in the field of AI-powered pharmaceuticals. Insilico also inked a deal with ETERN Biopharma to develop drugs with novel mechanisms for several undisclosed targets.
XtalPi has signed with Qilu Pharmaceutical, Chai Tai Tianqing, and GeneQuantum Heathcare separately, planning to develop new drugs with its partners by using AI and high-precision computational chemistry technologies.
Another hotspot is COVID-19 vaccines and drugs, on which nine in-licensing deals focused. As far as the revealed deal value is concerned, Huadong Medicine has reached a deal with the highest value of 662 million USD to develop and commercialize Kiniksa's ARCALYST and mavrilimumab in the Asia Pacific Region.
Nine In-licensing Deals on COVID-19 Vaccines or Therapies | ||||||
No. | Licensor | Licensee | Asset(s) | Notes | Upfront Fee (USD mln) | Total value (USD mln) |
1 | Kiniksa | Huadong Medicine | Rilonacept; Mavrilimumab | Neutralizing antibody | 22 | 662 |
2 | A*STAR | Everest Medicines | EDDC-2214 | Oral drug | 2.5 | 214.5 |
3 | RNACure | Walvax | RQ3013 | Vaccine | 0.77 | 20.84 |
4 | Ligand Pharmaceuticals | China Res Double-Crane | LGN-20 | Oral drug | / | 20.75 |
5 | Antaiwei | Kexing Biopharm | SHEN26 | Oral drug | 3.09 | 15.44 |
6 | Institute of Pathogen Biology, CAMS & PUMC | Youcare Pharmaceutical | Broad-spectrum coronavirus fusion inhibitors | Peptide drug | 1.54 | 7.72 |
7 | Ab Studio | China Resources Pharmaceutical | ABS-VIR-001 | Neutralizing antibody | / | / |
8 | Afana Biotechnology | AnkeBio | mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 mutants | Vaccine | / | / |
9 | Wuhan Institute of Virology, CAS; Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica., CAS | Junshi Biosciences; Suzhou Wangshan Wangshui Biomedicine | VV993 | Oral drug | / | / |
Notes: “/” means the payment information is not made public. | ||||||
Everest Medicines made the second-high payment of 214.5 million USD to gain the exclusive global rights from Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology, and Research (A*STAR), including developing, manufacturing and commercializing a series of viral 3C-like (3CL) protease inhibitors.
Walvax took the third place by reaching a deal worth up to 20.84 million USD to develop and commercialize a mRNA vaccine with RNACure.
Junshi Biosciences reached the second deal with Suzhou Wangshan Wangshui Biomedicine to develop, manufacture, and commercialize 3CL protease inhibitor VV993 in the countries and regions other than Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The two companies had reached a deal in 2021 on co-developing VV116.
20 Out-licensing Deals with Chinese Licensors
In H2 2022, Chinese pharma companies out-licensed 28 projects, including 20 for innovative drugs/technologies, 4 for biosimilars and 4 for generic/improved drugs.2
No. | Licensor | Licensee | Asset(s) | Upfront fee (USD mln) | Total value (USD mln) |
1 | Kelun Botai | MSD | Macromolecular anticancer drug | 47 | 1,410 |
2 | Junshi Biosciences | Boherus | TIGITantibody | 35 | 290 |
3 | Harbour Biomed | AstraZeneca | CLDN18.2/CD3 bispecific antibody | 25 | 350 |
4 | Lanova Medicines | Turning Point | Claudin 18.2 ADC | 21.78 | 220 |
5 | Shenzhen Puruijin | CellPoint | BCMA CAR-T | 17.5 | / |
6 | Adagene | Sanofi | SAFEbody platform-masking antibody | 16.34 | 2,517.5 |
7 | Jemincare | Orion | Non-opioid painkiller | 10 | / |
8 | Biosion | Pyxis | Anti-Siglec 15 monoclonal antibody | 10 | 232.5 |
9 | Genfleet | Sellas | CDK9 inhibitor | 0.4 | 150 |
10 | Evive Biotech | APOGEPHA | Efbemalenograstim α | / | 38.9 |
11 | Abbisko | Eli Lilly | New small molecules | / | 258 |
12 | Innovent; IASO Bio | Sana | BCMA CARs | / | 204 |
13 | Multitude Therapeutics | OnCusp | CDH6 ADC | / | / |
14 | Dac Biotech | Johnson & Johnson | New ADC | / | / |
15 | Harbor Biomed | LegoChem Biosciences | New ADC | / | / |
16 | Biocytogen | Merck | RenMiceTM platform antibody | / | / |
17 | RNACure | EQRx | New small molecules | / | / |
18 | Foresee Pharma | TR-Pharm | Oral allosteric ALDH2 activator | / | / |
19 | ETERN | Roche | Protein liquid-liquid phase separation technology platform | / | / |
20 | Sansheng Guojian | Syncromune | Anti-PD-1 monoclonal antibody | / | / |
Among the 20 out-licensing deals, 16 were for antineoplastic drugs. The out-licensed drugs have various types, including new molecular drugs, monoclonal antibodies, bispecific antibodies, antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs), and CAR-T therapies. Most of them (15 out of 20) belong to biological drugs.
All the licensees are small-sized enterprises or biotech/biopharma companies other than traditional pharma giants while licensors include small and big enterprises from overseas.
Except from Evive Biotech's Efbemalenograstim α which is applying for marketing authorization, other projects in the out-licensing deals are in the pre-clinical stage or phase I/II clinical trial.
Related: Are Cross-Border Licensing Deals a Shortcut to China's Pharma Market?
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