Hengrui Pharma Licenses SHR6508 to Hansoh Pharma for RMB 30 Million Upfront Payment

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry DynamicsOn December 28, Hengrui Pharma announced more good news: the company licensed its SHR6508 project to Hansoh Pharma for a fee. Hengrui will receive an upfront payment of 30 million yuan and is eligible for regulatory milestone payments as well as commercial milestone payments related to the inclusion of the licensed product in China's national medical insurance catalog, with a maximum amount of up to 190 million yuan. The company is entitled to receive tiered royalties of up to 9% based on quarterly net sales.
 

Data shows that Hengrui Pharma's strategic transformation from "generic-innovative combination" to "innovation-driven" has entered the harvest stage. In the first half of 2025, the company's innovative drug sales and licensing revenue reached 9.561 billion yuan, accounting for 60.66% of the company’s total revenue, of which innovative drug sales revenue was 7.57 billion yuan. The significant growth in innovative drug sales revenue and the continuous achievements in innovative drug R&D have made the innovative drug business the main engine driving performance growth. As a regular business for Hengrui, the income from the external licensing of innovative drugs has become an important part of its total revenue.
 

According to the announcement, SHR6508, a novel allosteric modulator of the calcium-sensing receptor authorized to Hansoh Pharma this time, is intended for the treatment of secondary hyperparathyroidism in adult patients with chronic kidney disease requiring hemodialysis. It is currently undergoing Phase III clinical trial research. The calcium-sensing receptor monitors and regulates calcium levels by releasing parathyroid hormone (PTH), which controls blood calcium levels. Due to enhanced sensitivity to calcium ions, SHR6508 administration can reduce PTH secretion in hemodialysis patients with secondary hyperparathyroidism.
 

Hansoh Pharma is a China-driven innovative pharmaceutical enterprise, with subsidiaries such as Hansoh Pharma, focusing on major disease treatment areas including oncology, anti-infectives, central nervous system, metabolism, and autoimmune diseases. Notably, Hansoh Pharma launched an innovative renal drug, Serro® (Pegmoceptin Injection), in 2023 for the treatment of renal anemia, and has already established a mature commercialization system and market access capability in the fields of nephrology and dialysis. This collaboration marks a further deepening of Hansoh Pharma's renal product portfolio and a continuous enhancement of its core competitiveness.
 

In addition, Chengdu Shengdi, a subsidiary of Hengrui Pharma, signed the "Commercial Service Framework Agreement" with Hansoh Pharma, a subsidiary of Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Company Limited, entrusting Hansoh Pharma to provide non-exclusive commercial services for its Paricalcitol Soft Capsules. According to available information, Paricalcitol is a synthetic vitamin D analog that inhibits the secretion of parathyroid hormone (PTH) by binding to the vitamin D receptor, thereby reducing serum PTH levels. The company's Paricalcitol Soft Capsules were approved for marketing by the National Medical Products Administration in November 2025.
 

Industry insiders said that by licensing out SHR6508, Hengrui Pharma no longer needs to invest in subsequent commercialization resources but can still secure an upfront payment of 30 million yuan and potential milestone payments of 190 million yuan, which is equivalent to "locking in returns in advance." At the same time, the company will continue to benefit from sales royalties after the product's market launch. Entrusting Hansoh Pharma with the commercialization of Paricalcitol directly leverages the latter’s channel advantages, enabling rapid scaling of a mature product while Hengrui focuses on R&D. As the "R&D leader" in China's pharmaceutical industry, this move by Hengrui Pharma represents a "strategic focus" during its transformation phase — concentrating limited resources on core innovative drugs and abandoning the "going it alone from start to finish" model.
 

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