SanegeneBio Accelerates Global Expansion with Back-to-Back RNAi Partnerships with Eli Lilly and Genentech

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Enterprise NewsRecently, SANEGENEBIO announced a global research and development collaboration and licensing agreement with Genentech. Both parties will jointly advance the development of an RNAi therapy based on SANEGENEBIO's proprietary RNAi drug discovery platform. According to the agreement, SANEGENEBIO will grant Genentech the exclusive worldwide rights for the development and commercialization of the drug. SANEGENEBIO will be responsible for the early-stage research and development of the drug, while Genentech will take charge of all subsequent clinical development and commercialization activities.
 

Through this collaboration, SANEGENEBIO will receive an upfront payment of 200 million US dollars and is entitled to receive development and sales milestone payments totaling 1.5 billion US dollars, as well as tiered royalties.
 

In fact, this is not the first time that SANEGENEBIO has licensed its RNAi therapy overseas. In November 2025, SANEGENEBIO reached a global R&D collaboration and licensing agreement worth up to $1.2 billion with Eli Lilly. The two parties will jointly develop and commercialize RNAi therapies for metabolic diseases based on SANEGENEBIO's proprietary LEAD platform.
 

The agreement shows that Eli Lilly will pay SANEGENEBIO an upfront fee and make an equity investment. Meanwhile, Eli Lilly will take over the preclinical research (pre-IND studies), clinical development, and commercialization of the RNAi molecules discovered by SANEGENEBIO.
 

It is reported that RNAi drugs are an emerging innovative treatment modality in recent years, with their therapeutic scope expanding from rare diseases to common disease areas with large patient populations, such as hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and obesity. SANEGENEBIO has been committed to developing first-in-class/best-in-class RNAi therapies targeting the liver and extrahepatic tissues. Based on its proprietary RNAi drug discovery platform, the company has built a diversified pipeline covering different therapeutic areas, including autoimmune diseases, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic disorders, and obesity.
 

Currently, several of its products have entered clinical trials. Among them, SGB-3403, which targets hypercholesterolemia and demonstrates unique advantages in the PCSK9 competition, has completed Phase I trials in China and Australia, with Phase II trials ongoing in China. SGB-3383, for the treatment of complement-mediated diseases, will initiate Phase I clinical trials in China by mid-2025, with the first human dosing completed. On January 13, 2026, SGB-7342 completed the first subject dosing in a Phase I clinical study in China for the treatment of obesity.
 

In addition, SGB-3908, jointly developed by SANEGENEBIO and Innovent Bio, for which Innovent Bio holds the rights in China, has also completed Phase I clinical trials.
 

Notably, to further accelerate the clinical development and global expansion of its ongoing and planned pipelines, and to support continuous breakthroughs in the RNAi field, SANEGENEBIO announced the completion of a Series B financing round exceeding 1.1 billion USD in December 2025. The funds raised will be used to leverage the company's RNAi drug discovery platform, including the LEAD™ extrahepatic delivery platform, to advance clinical-stage pipelines into registration studies and expedite the development of multiple therapeutic area pipelines.
 

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