$2.135 Billion Deal! Key Milestone for Chinese Biotech's Global Expansion

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry DynamicsOn July 22, 2025, Novatim announced a strategic partnership with U.S.-based biopharmaceutical company ERIGEN LLC. The two parties signed an exclusive overseas licensing agreement for the parallel-enhanced dual-targeting CAR-T cell therapy product KQ-2003 (targeting BCMA/CD19). This marks a key step forward in Novatim's internationalization of its innovative pipeline.
 

According to the agreement, ERIGEN will obtain the exclusive rights for the development, registration, and commercialization of KQ-2003 in regions outside Greater China (excluding India, Turkey, and Russia). Meanwhile, ERIGEN will also acquire the key structure and sequence of KQ-2003 for the development of "universal CAR-T cell therapy," while the rights to this universal product in Greater China will be retained by Novatim.
 

In this collaboration, Novatim will receive a near-term development milestone payment of 15 million US dollars and is eligible for milestone payments totaling up to 1.32 billion US dollars during the R&D, registration, and commercialization stages. Additionally, based on the net sales of KQ-2003 in the licensed territory, Novatim will receive sales royalties of up to 800 million US dollars.
 

KQ-2003 is an innovative therapy developed by Novatim based on the enhanced dual-target CAR-T platform. Through a parallel structural design and optimization of the signaling domain, it significantly enhances the persistence and anti-tumor activity of CAR-T cells while reducing the risk of recurrence associated with traditional CAR-T therapies. Its core advantages include efficacy, safety benefits, and cost competitiveness. It has demonstrated significant efficacy in registrational clinical trials for relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma (rrMM) and POEMS syndrome. KQ-2003 is currently undergoing Phase Ib clinical trials in China.
 

This in-depth cooperation with ERIGEN not only accelerates the global layout of KQ-2003 but also brings more new treatment hope to patients with global relapsed/refractory multiple myeloma and POEMS syndrome. In addition, this high potential return highlights the significance of this transaction and also injects a "strong booster" for China-produced innovative drugs going overseas.
 

In recent years, the trend of China's innovative drugs going global has shown increasingly strong momentum. Data shows that in the first half of 2025, the total upfront payments for China’s license-out deals reached $3.3 billion, with the total deal value amounting to $48.09 billion, representing several-fold growth compared to five years ago. The total amount in just the first half of the year is already close to the level seen in 2024.
 

From the perspective of transaction models, in the early days, Chinese innovative pharmaceutical companies going global mainly adopted the license-out model, which involves selling the overseas or global rights of their products to foreign enterprises. These foreign enterprises then take charge of subsequent clinical development, regulatory submissions, manufacturing, and sales. This model allows Chinese pharmaceutical companies to quickly recoup funds, reduce R&D risks, and leverage the mature commercial channels and clinical development experience of foreign enterprises to bring their products to the international market more rapidly.
 

Taking Novatim's recent transaction as an example, through the license-out model, its KQ-2003 product can leverage ERIGEN's overseas resources to accelerate global expansion, while Novatim itself can focus on the development of the product in the Greater China region and the advancement of other pipelines.
 

It is reported that Novatim, a biopharmaceutical technology enterprise focusing on the R&D and clinical application of innovative drugs for tumor immunotherapy, is committed to efficient and groundbreaking R&D innovation based on clinical needs and differentiation. The company has established three major R&D platforms: bispecific antibody platform, nano bispecific ADC platform, and enhanced dual-target CAR-T platform. Based on the bispecific antibody platform, the company independently developed a βγ-biased PD1/IL2 fusion protein, which is currently in Phase Ⅰb clinical trials in China and has obtained IND approval in the United States. Based on the nano bispecific ADC platform, the company independently developed a nano bispecific ADC, which is currently in Phase Ⅰa clinical trials in China and has also obtained IND approval in the United States. Based on the enhanced dual-target CAR-T platform, the company independently developed a parallel-enhanced dual-target CAR-T, which is currently in Phase Ⅰ/Ⅱa clinical trials.
 

Novatim's recent licensing deal is undoubtedly a vivid case in the journey of China's innovative drugs going global. It not only demonstrates the value and potential of China's innovative drugs in the global market but also allows pharmaceutical companies to see the opportunities and challenges of going abroad. In the future, as China’s innovative drug companies continue to enhance their capabilities, improve the innovation ecosystem, and strengthen international cooperation and exchanges, they are expected to occupy a more significant position on the global pharmaceutical landscape. Meanwhile, with the growing strength of China’s innovative drugs, some pharmaceutical companies have begun to explore deeper collaboration models, such as co-development. For example, BeiGene has built a global clinical development team of over 2,000 people, conducting trials simultaneously across more than 50 countries; Hengrui Pharma has established a research and development center in Basel, Switzerland, enabling 24-hour global R&D collaboration. This shift from simple technology export to participation in the entire global chain of R&D, clinical trials, and commercialization reflects the advancement of China’s innovative pharmaceutical companies in their overseas expansion.
 

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