China's Innovative Drug BD Deals Surge in 2026, Evolving Beyond 'Selling Seedlings'

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry Dynamics】Currently, cross-border BD transactions for innovative drugs in China are booming. In the past 2025, the total number of transactions reached 157, with a total transaction value of $135.655 billion and upfront payments of $7 billion. Entering 2026, such transactions have continued to heat up, with over 40 deals occurring in less than three months, upfront payments exceeding $3 billion, and the total amount surpassing $53 billion.
 

On February 25, Dashi Pharmaceutical (Guangdong) Co., Ltd. announced the exciting news of its collaboration with the U.S.-based emerging biopharmaceutical company Slate Medicines, Inc. ("Slate Medicines"). The company has licensed the global (excluding Greater China) clinical development and commercialization rights of its self-developed, potential Best-in-Class (BIC), monoclonal antibody DS009 targeting Pituitary Adenylate Cyclase-Activating Polypeptide (PACAP) to Slate Medicines for the preventive treatment of migraine and other headache disorders.
 

On February 24, Frontier Biotechnologies announced that the company had reached a licensing agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), under which the exclusive rights for the global development, production, and commercialization of two early-stage small nucleic acid (siRNA) pipeline products were licensed to GSK. According to the agreement, Frontier Biotechnologies will receive an upfront payment of $40 million and a near-term milestone payment of $13 million. The company is also eligible to receive up to $950 million in success-based development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments across the two projects, along with tiered royalties on the global net sales of the two products.
 

On February 23, Harbour BioMed announced that it had entered into a licensing agreement and equity cooperation agreement with clinical-stage biotechnology company Solstice Oncology. Under the agreement, Harbour BioMed grants Solstice Oncology an exclusive license to develop and commercialize its clinical-stage portfolio asset HBM4003 in regions outside Greater China. According to the terms of the agreement, Harbour BioMed will receive upfront consideration valued at over US$105 million, including a cash payment of US$50 million, a near-term payment of US$5 million, and Solstice Oncology equity valued at over US$50 million.
 

On February 8, Innovent Bio announced a strategic collaboration with Eli Lilly and Company to jointly advance the global development of innovative drugs in the fields of oncology and immunology. According to the agreement terms, INNOVENT BIOLOGICS(SUZHOU)CO LTD will receive an upfront payment of $350 million. Upon achieving subsequent specific milestone events, INNOVENT BIOLOGICS(SUZHOU)CO LTD is also eligible to receive development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments totaling ≤ approximately $8.5 billion.
 

As early as January, there were frequent announcements of licensing collaborations between local pharmaceutical companies and multinational pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. Among them, CSPC announced that it had signed a strategic R&D collaboration and licensing agreement with AstraZeneca to leverage its proprietary sustained-release drug delivery technology platform and AI-based peptide drug discovery platform to develop innovative long-acting peptide drugs.
 

Cellyan Biotech, a global biopharmaceutical company in the clinical stage focused on the discovery and development of innovative cell therapies, also announced in January an agreement with AstraZeneca. AstraZeneca will acquire 50% of Cellyan Biotech's development and commercialization rights for C-CAR031 in China. AstraZeneca will obtain the rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize C-CAR031 globally.
 

Data shows that C-CAR031 is a novel GPC3-targeted CAR-T therapy co-developed by Cellular Biomedicine Group (CBMG) and AstraZeneca (AZN.US) in China under a joint development agreement. On June 4, 2024, at the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting 2024, CBMG presented preliminary safety and efficacy results from the first-in-human IIT (Investigator-Initiated Trial) of C-CAR031 in an oral presentation. The report demonstrated that C-CAR031 exhibited manageable safety and objective anti-tumor activity in heavily pretreated advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) patients (who had previously received 1-6 lines of therapy).
 

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Industry insiders point out that China's innovative drug cross-border cooperation model is presenting new breakthroughs, no longer limited to the early "selling of green seedlings" model. Instead, it is moving towards new models of deep binding such as joint development and regional licensing. The future quality and sustainability of the industry will be more promising.
 

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