China's Innovative Drugs Surge Overseas in Late 2025 with Record-Breaking Licensing Deals

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry DynamicsIn 2025, the total value and number of outbound licensing (License-out) deals by Chinese innovative pharmaceutical companies reached record highs. Statistics show that the total annual amount is expected to surpass the $100 billion mark, making it a norm for Chinese innovative drugs to "go global." As the year-end approaches, the trend of Chinese domestic innovative drugs going overseas has once again reached a "peak."
 

On December 17, Harbour BioMed announced that the company had entered into a long-term global strategic collaboration and licensing agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb to jointly develop a new generation of multispecific antibody therapies. Under the terms of the agreement, Harbour BioMed will collaborate with Bristol Myers Squibb to advance and accelerate multispecific antibody discovery programs. For this, Harbour BioMed will receive a total payment of $90 million. If Bristol Myers Squibb chooses to advance all potential projects, Harbour BioMed could also receive up to $1.035 billion in development and commercial milestone payments, as well as tiered royalties based on future net product sales.
 

Notably, this is not the first high-value deal for Harbour BioMed this year. In March, Harbour BioMed entered into a strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca, with a total potential value exceeding $4.5 billion (including a $175 million investment and multi-specific antibody licenses). In June, the company also partnered with Japan’s Otsuka Pharmaceutical on a BCMA×CD3 bispecific T-cell engager for autoimmune diseases (with an upfront payment of $47 million and additional milestone payments of up to $623 million). The continuous stream of high-value international collaborations has made Harbour BioMed a representative player in China's innovative drug export wave. Behind these large-scale partnerships lies the strong output capability and clinical transformation value of its proprietary HCAb technology platform in the multi-specific antibody field.
 

On December 16, Hansoh Pharma announced that it had granted Glenmark, an Indian pharmaceutical company, the exclusive overseas license for "Almonertinib," with potential earnings exceeding 1 billion US dollars. Data shows that Almonertinib is a third-generation epidermal growth factor receptor-tyrosine kinase inhibitor (EGFR-TKI) used to treat non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). It is China's self-developed third-generation EGFR-TKI innovative drug. It is reported that since this year, Hansohn Pharma has completed multiple licensing deals.
 

On December 15, CHANGCHUN HIGH-TECH announced that Shanghai Saizeng Medical Technology Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of its holding subsidiary Changchun Jin Sai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "Jin Sai Pharmaceutical"), signed an exclusive licensing agreement for the GenSci098 injection project with YarrowBioscience, Inc., an emerging U.S. biopharmaceutical company. The total transaction amount reached $1.365 billion. The implementation of this cooperation marks CHANGCHUN HIGH-TECH's strategic transformation from a single growth hormone business to a stage where growth hormone, innovative drugs, and R&D BD revenue are equally important, entering a substantive realization phase. As the core asset of the cooperation, GenSci098 injection is a humanized thyroid-stimulating hormone receptor (TSHR) antagonistic monoclonal antibody independently developed by Jin Sai Pharmaceutical. It belongs to Class 1 new therapeutic biological products and has clear targeting and a novel mechanism of action. The drug achieves multiple therapeutic effects by specifically binding to TSHR in the thyroid or retrobulbar tissues, blocking its binding with autoantibodies.
 

On December 9, Fosun Pharma's subsidiary Yaoyou Pharmaceutical reached an exclusive cooperation and licensing agreement with Pfizer for the oral GLP-1 drug YP05002, with a potential total transaction value of up to $2.085 billion. Data shows that YP05002 is an oral GLP-1 receptor agonist currently in Phase 1 clinical trials in Australia (NCT07089823), with the primary endpoint expected to be completed by April 2026. Despite the asset being in its early stages and having limited public data, Pfizer has agreed to pay a $150 million upfront payment, commit to milestone payments of up to $1.935 billion (including $350 million in development milestones and $1.585 billion in sales milestones), as well as royalties in the double-digit percentage range...
 

The wave of overseas expansion at the end of 2025 clearly shows that China's innovative drugs are no longer just "participants" in the global pharmaceutical market, but are increasingly becoming "important contributors." The transaction scale of tens of billions of US dollars is only the beginning. When innovation strength, business acumen, and a global perspective come together, China's innovative drugs will write a more brilliant chapter on the global health stage.
 

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