Biopharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to China for promising drug candidates and Bristol Myers Squibb is joining in, striking up a wide-ranging alliance with Hengrui Pharma, one of the country’s most prolific dealmakers.
The agreement announced Tuesday spans a total of 13 programs. BMS brings four immunology assets to the pact while Hengrui contributes four oncology/hematology drugs. The companies said these programs are in early clinical development, but specific targets and diseases were not disclosed. In an investor presentation, Hengrui described the programs from both companies as potentially first or best in class. Five additional programs covered under the deal will be jointly discovered and developed by the partners.
Per deal terms, BMS gets exclusive global rights to the assets Hengrui brings to the alliance, excluding China, Hong Kong, and Macau, where Hengrui retains rights. For the drugs from BMS, Hengrui gains exclusive rights for its China territory while Bristol retains rights in the rest of the world.
Under the deal, Hengrui is responsible for the early clinical development of the partnered programs and has the option to co-develop select assets. Hengrui may also conduct certain commercialization work globally alongside BMS. The investor presentation states the collaboration “further advances Hengrui’s objective to become a global biopharmaceutical leader.” In a prepared statement, BMS Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer Robert Plenge said this deal reflects his company’s commitment to innovative science and a disciplined approach to portfolio management.
“By leveraging complementary capabilities across geographies, we aim to accelerate early clinical learning and make informed decisions that support driving top tier growth in the next decade and, ultimately, our mission to deliver medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.”
Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, or Hengrui Pharma, is one of China’s largest pharmaceutical companies. Founded in 1970, Hengrui says it currently has 29 drugs marketed in its home country. The company also says it has received about 20 regulatory approvals overseas.
Hengrui says it has more than 100 internally discovered drugs in various stages of clinical development. BMS is the latest big pharma company to tap into that productive pipeline. Last summer, GSK paid $500 million up front to begin an alliance with Hengrui focused on developing up to 12 new medicines for respiratory disorders, immunology and inflammation, and oncology. Earlier in the year, Merck paid $200 million up front for rights to a Hengrui cardiovascular drug candidate in clinical development.
Hengrui’s handiwork can also be found at U.S. biotech companies. The obesity drug pipeline of Kailera Therapeutics, which last month raised $625 million from its IPO, consists of assets licensed from Hengrui. Startups that have licensed Hengrui drugs include Braveheart Bio and Treeline Bio.
BMS is kicking off its new alliance with a $600 million upfront payment to Hengrui. The deal terms call for $175 million payments on the first and second anniversaries of the deal. Exercising options for the joint discovery programs and achieving development, regulatory, and commercial milestones could bring the total deal value to up to $15.2 billion. Hengrui is also in line to receive royalties on BMS’s sales of partnered products commercialized outside of Hengrui’s territory.
The deal is still subject to regulatory reviews, but BMS and Hengrui expect to close the transaction in the third quarter of this year.
Photo: Wong Yu Liang, Getty Images
