Chinese Innovative Drugs Surge Overseas at Start of 2024 with Over Four Deals Exceeding $1 Billion

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry DynamicsAccording to data statistics, from 2021 to 2023, there were at least 136 License-out deals for innovative drugs in China, with a total transaction value of nearly US$85 billion. In 2023 alone, there were 58 License-out deals, and the total transaction amount that could be counted increased by approximately 56% year-on-year, reaching about US$43.11 billion. Entering 2024, China's innovative drug sector has once again sparked a wave of overseas expansion, including companies such as WuXi Biologics, Mabwell, Allorion Therapeutics, and Ribo Life Science.
 

As of now, in 2024, China's innovative drug sector has completed no fewer than 12 outbound licensing deals. Among these, more than four deals have a total value exceeding 1 billion US dollars, involving companies such as MediLink, Ribo Life Science, Allorion Therapeutics, and Argo Biopharma.
 

It is reported that on January 7, Argo announced the signing of two exclusive license and collaboration agreements with Novartis. Under the agreements, Argo will license multiple cardiovascular therapy pipelines to Novartis and receive an upfront payment of $185 million, with eligibility for up to $4.165 billion in potential option fees, milestone payments, and tiered royalties on commercial sales. This marks the first overseas licensing deal by a Chinese biotechnology company in the RNAi field and also the first external transaction for Argo’s pipeline.
 

Data shows that Argo Biopharma is dedicated to the development of siRNA drugs. Its team has extensive professional experience in all aspects of RNAi drug development, including nucleic acid sequence design, chemical modification, GalNAc delivery technology, extrahepatic tissue targeting delivery technology, oligonucleotide synthesis, and CMC. A complete nucleic acid drug development platform has been established at Argo Biopharma. Since its inception, the company has advanced four pipelines to the clinical stage, with one pipeline about to enter clinical trials, and multiple pipelines having confirmed PCC. The therapeutic areas cover cardiovascular diseases, rare diseases, hepatitis B, autoimmune conditions, neurological disorders, and more.
 

On January 4, Allorion Therapeutics announced that it had entered into an assignment agreement with Avenzo Therapeutics to license the global (excluding Greater China) rights of CDK2 inhibitor ARTS-021 and another preclinical project to the latter. Under the terms of the agreement, Allorion Therapeutics will receive an upfront payment of $40 million, additional payments for development and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties on sales. The potential total payments for the two projects are expected to exceed $1 billion.
 

Data shows that Allorion Therapeutics is a biopharmaceutical company dedicated to the research and development of novel small-molecule drugs for treating cancer and autoimmune diseases. Recently, Allorion Therapeutics has gained significant wealth beyond just this instance. Reportedly, on January 2nd, Allorion Therapeutics will globally license the rights to its new allosteric inhibitor drug targeting the EGFR L858R mutation to AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca will pay a $40 million upfront and near-term payment, up to $500 million in additional payments, and tiered royalties on global net sales.
 

On January 3, 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 agreement, in addition to receiving an upfront payment, Ribo will be entitled to milestone payments based on the progress of clinical studies, drug registration, and commercial success, as well as tiered royalties on product sales upon commercialization within this multi-target collaboration project. The total value of the deal exceeds 2 billion US dollars.
 

On January 2, MediLink announced a global collaboration and licensing agreement with Roche regarding next-generation Antibody-Drug Conjugates (ADCs). Under the agreement, the two parties will collaborate to develop YL211, a next-generation ADC candidate targeting c-MET (mesenchymal-epithelial transition factor), for the treatment of solid tumors. This collaboration will bring MediLink an upfront payment and near-term milestone payments totaling $50 million, potential development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments of up to nearly $1 billion, as well as future royalties based on global annual net sales.
 

These figures reveal that innovative drugs in China are on the rise. Analysts indicate that in recent years, driven by a series of policies and amid a background of serious homogeneity in domestic innovation, both traditional large pharmaceutical companies in China and new Biotech firms have embarked on a new track of "innovative transformation and going global." The number of overseas licenses (License-out) and the scale of cooperation amounts continue to grow.
 

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