China's Pharma BD Boom: $10B+ Cross-border Deals Surge in January with RNAi, ADC, and Small Molecule Highlights

 

Among these 13 BD collaborations, the disclosed amounts of four deals exceed 1 billion US dollars, involving Novartis, Boehringer Ingelheim, Roche, and Avenzo Therapeutics.
 

Among them, Argo Biopharma announced in January that it had reached two exclusive license cooperation agreements with Novartis for RNAi therapies. Argo Biopharma will receive an upfront payment of $185 million from Novartis and is eligible to receive potential option and milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties on commercial sales. The total potential value of the two deals could reach up to $4.165 billion.
 

Data shows that Argo Biopharma is focused on the development of siRNA drugs. According to an agreement, Argo Biopharma has exclusively licensed the global development and commercialization rights of a Phase I clinical product for cardiovascular diseases to Novartis. In addition, Novartis will also obtain potential license options for up to two additional targets for compounds targeting cardiovascular diseases. According to a second agreement, Argo Biopharma has exclusively licensed the development and commercialization rights outside of Greater China for a Phase I/IIa clinical-stage project for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases to Novartis. These clinical-stage assets were all discovered and developed by Argo Biopharma using its RNAi technology platform.
 

In January, Suzhou Ribo Life Science Co., Ltd. announced a collaboration with Germany's Boehringer Ingelheim to jointly develop innovative small nucleic acid therapies for the treatment of non-alcoholic or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (NASH/MASH).
 

According to the terms of the collaboration, Suzhou Ribo Life Science Co., Ltd. will receive an upfront payment and is entitled to receive milestone payments based on clinical development, regulatory approval, and commercial success, as well as tiered royalties on product sales. The total value of the deal exceeds 2 billion US dollars.
 

Suzhou Ribo Life Science Co., Ltd. stated that by utilizing its RIBO-GalSTARTM technology platform, the company is able to specifically target pathogenic genes in liver cells and selectively inhibit their mRNA, thereby developing small nucleic acid (RNAi) therapies. Small nucleic acid therapies have the potential to target undruggable targets with traditional drug molecules, achieving the goal of treating corresponding diseases.
 

In January, MediLink announced a global collaboration and licensing agreement with Roche for the next-generation antibody-drug conjugates (ADC). This collaboration will bring MediLink an upfront payment and near-term milestone payments of US$50 million, potential development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments of up to nearly US$1 billion, as well as future royalties based on global annual net sales.
 

According to the agreement, both parties will collaborate to develop YL211, a next-generation antibody-drug conjugate candidate targeting the mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor (c-MET), for the treatment of solid tumors. Roche will obtain exclusive global rights for the development, manufacturing, and commercialization of MediLink's YL211 project. MediLink will work with Roche China Innovation Center to advance the YL211 project to Phase I clinical trials, after which Roche will take over further global development and commercialization.
 

In January, Allorion Therapeutics announced a collaboration agreement with U.S.-based Avenzo Therapeutics. Under the agreement, Allorion will grant Avenzo global rights (excluding Greater China) to CDK2 inhibitor ARTS-021 and another preclinical project. Avenzo will pay $40 million upfront, with additional payments tied to development milestones and commercialization milestones, bringing the total potential value of the deal to over $1 billion. Allorion Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company focused on developing novel small-molecule drugs for the treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
 

According to the analysis, among these 13 BD collaborations, in terms of buyers, the therapeutic area with the highest focus is small molecule drugs, accounting for 32%; followed by ADCs at 18%; both antibody drugs and nucleic acid drugs also exceed 10% in focus. In terms of sellers, there is a strong willingness for BD in antibody drugs, with antibody projects awaiting licensing deals accounting for 30% of the total projects; followed by ADC projects, cell therapy, and small molecule drugs. Industry insiders indicate that pharmaceutical companies' enthusiasm for BD transactions is expected to continue, and related industry chains are likely to benefit.
 

Disclaimer: Under no circumstances shall the information or opinions expressed in this article constitute investment advice to any person.