Sino-Foreign Pharma Collaborations Accelerate with Increasingly Diversified Partnerships

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry Dynamics】Sino-foreign pharmaceutical companies cooperate more frequently, with diversified cooperation content
 

Recently, the signing ceremony of trademark license authorization between Merck Group and BioValley (Chengdu) Technology Co., Ltd., along with the launch ceremony of the Merck Empowered Complex Macromolecule CDMO Project, was held in Wenjiang, Chengdu. This marks the announcement by Merck of a partnership with BioValley (Chengdu) Technology Co., Ltd. ("BioValley" for short) to jointly promote the Contract Development and Manufacturing Organization (CDMO) public technology service platform project within Chengdu Medical City, actively supporting the development of Chengdu's biopharmaceutical industry.
 

In recent years, under the bold policy reforms, China's pharmaceuticals and health industry has been thriving while also accelerating its pace of opening up to the outside world. This has made China a highly promising and dynamic emerging pharmaceuticals market globally, exerting an irresistible attraction to foreign enterprises. It is reported that since this year, a large number of domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies have reached cooperation agreements.
 

For example, on September 29, Simcere Pharmaceutical and Almirall, a long-established European pharmaceutical company, jointly announced that they had reached a licensing agreement for an innovative preclinical autoimmune disease drug independently developed by Simcere Pharmaceutical. Almirall has obtained exclusive rights to develop and commercialize the drug outside of Greater China. Simcere Pharmaceutical will receive up to $492 million in total milestone payments, including a $15 million upfront payment.
 

On August 30, China National Pharmaceutical Group Corporation (Sinopharm) and Novartis China held a strategic upgrade cooperation seminar and the signing and launching ceremony of the "Within Reach" project at the Sinopharm Building in Shanghai. Liu Yong, President of Sinopharm, and Zhang Ying, President of Novartis Innovative Drugs China, attended the signing and launching ceremony. The relevant project team from Sinopharm's Global Procurement and Supply Chain Service Center, as well as the management and business teams of Novartis China's specialty drug retail business, also participated in the signing and launching ceremony.
 

On August 16, Qingdao Baiyang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. announced the renewal agreement signed with Takeda (China) Investment Co., Ltd. in Qingdao, China. Relying on Baiyang Pharmaceutical’s professional online and offline market commercialization capabilities, both parties will continue to deepen the commercial cooperation for multiple brand products under Takeda China, including Dakprone® (Lansoprazole Enteric-Coated Capsules), Pantoloc® (Pantoprazole Sodium Enteric-Coated Tablets), and Pretonin® (Lansoprazole Orally Disintegrating Tablets).
 

On August 5, Innovent Biologics announced that it had entered into a multi-project strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Sanofi to jointly conduct clinical development and commercialization in China of two high-potential anti-cancer drugs, SAR408701 (Tusamitamab Ravtansine; anti-CEACAM5 antibody-drug conjugate) and SAR444245 (non-α-biased IL-2), including exploring a series of clinical studies in combination with the PD-1 inhibitor Tyvyt® (sintilimab injection), aiming to accelerate the development and market access of innovative therapies for the benefit of Chinese cancer patients.
 

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From the current perspective, cooperation between pharmaceutical companies in China and abroad is becoming increasingly frequent, with richer content covering products, marketing, and other aspects. With multi-dimensional cooperation, the industry expects that the future collaboration of Chinese and foreign pharmaceutical companies in "going global" and "bringing in" will further accelerate.
 

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