Four Chinese Biopharma Companies Announce BD Deals Within Two Days, Two Transactions Exceeding $1.5 Billion in Potential Value

Within two days, four listed pharmaceutical companies in China have announced four outbound licensing deals, involving popular fields such as ADC, bispecific antibodies, CAR-T therapy, and more.

On the morning of October 17, Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Company Limited (Hansoh Pharma, 3692.HK) announced that it had entered into a licensing agreement with Roche for HS-20110. Under the agreement, Hansoh Pharma grants Roche exclusive rights to advance the development and commercialization of HS-20110 globally (excluding mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan). According to the agreement, Hansoh Pharma will receive an upfront payment of $80 million and is eligible to receive milestone payments based on the product's development, regulatory approval, and commercialization progress, as well as tiered royalties on future potential product sales. The total potential value of this transaction amounts to $1.53 billion.

In addition to Hansoh Pharma, on October 16 and 17, three other pharmaceutical companies in China also announced BD deals, with multiple potential total amounts reaching up to 1 billion US dollars.

October 17th morning, BeijingAosaikangAosaikang Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (AskGene, 002755) announced that its controlling subsidiary AskGene Pharma has reached a licensing agreement with Visara, granting Visara the rights to the Class 1 innovative drug ASKG712 project within the licensed territory on a paid basis. According to the agreement, the licensed territory includes Greater China, Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam, South Korea, and India. Visara will pay an upfront fee of 7 million US dollars, and AskGene Pharma is entitled to receive milestone payments related to research and development, registration, and commercialization, with a maximum amount not exceeding 89 million US dollars. AskGene Pharma is also entitled to collect royalties based on a certain percentage of the annual net sales of the product within the licensed territory.

On October 16, Shenzhen Pregene Biopharma Co., Ltd. (Pregene, 874090) announced that it had reached a collaboration with Kite Pharma, a subsidiary of Gilead, in the field of in vivo gene-editing therapies and signed a licensing and collaboration agreement covering a global territory. According to the agreement, Pregene is entitled to and has received an upfront payment totaling US$120 million. Additionally, upon achieving specific milestones, Pregene is eligible to receive various milestone payments totaling up to US$1.52 billion, as well as sales royalties based on future net product sales. The potential total value of this transaction could reach up to US$1.64 billion.

On October 16, Nanjing Leadsbiolabs Co., Ltd. (Leads Biolabs, 9887.HK) and Dianthus Therapeutics announced an exclusive global partnership to jointly advance LBL-047, a novel anti-BDCA2/TACI bispecific fusion protein. Under the agreement, Leads Biolabs will grant Dianthus exclusive rights to research, manufacture, and commercialize LBL-047 outside Greater China, in exchange for up to $38 million in upfront and near-term milestone payments, including a $20 million upfront payment, a $5 million payment due in Q4 2025, and potential near-term milestone payments of up to $13 million. The total deal value, including clinical development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, could reach up to $1 billion. Additionally, Leads Biolabs is eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales outside Greater China, ranging from mid-single-digit to low-double-digit percentages.

From the perspective of the R&D stage, the core targets of the four aforementioned deals are all in the early clinical stages, covering popular fields such as ADC, CAR-T therapy, bispecific antibodies, and ophthalmology. The parties involved in the transactions include well-known multinational pharmaceutical companies such as Roche and Gilead, once again demonstrating the global pharmaceutical market's interest and confidence in China's innovative drug assets.

Specifically, HS-20110, out-licensed by Hansoh Pharma, is a CDH17-targeted antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that has demonstrated broad application potential in the field of solid tumors. It is currently undergoing global Phase I clinical trials in China and the United States for the treatment of colorectal cancer and other solid tumors. Leads Biolabs has out-licensed LBL-047, which is in the preclinical stage. This product is expected to cover various autoimmune indications and has already received Investigational New Drug (IND) approval in the United States, with an IND application accepted in China. ASKG712, out-licensed by AskGene Pharma, is clinically used for treating fundus macular diseases and is currently in Phase 2a clinical research in China.

Particularly noteworthy is that the collaboration between Pregene and Gilead focuses on in vivo CAR-T therapy. In recent years, CAR-T therapy has garnered significant industry attention due to its customized nature and high cost. According to a research report by Open Source Securities, compared with traditional CAR-T, in vivo CAR-T can directly engineer T cells into CAR-T cells within the patient’s body through the use of delivery vectors combined with gene-editing tools. This approach holds potential in multiple aspects, such as reducing manufacturing costs, shortening process time, offering greater convenience to patients, and improving accessibility.

The aforementioned research report mentioned that in 2025, there were frequent transactions in the in vivo CAR-T therapy sector. In March 2025, AstraZeneca acquired EsoBiotech for $1 billion; in June, AbbVie purchased Capstan Therapeutics for $2.1 billion; in August, Kite Pharma, a subsidiary of Gilead Sciences, acquired Interius BioTherapeutics for $350 million; in October, BMS announced a definitive agreement with Orbital Therapeutics, under which BMS will acquire the private biotechnology company Orbital for $1.5 billion. In 2024, Novartis and Astellas also entered the in vivo CAR-T field through collaborations successively; Sanofi, which is relatively leading in the autoimmune field, also disclosed that the company has three in vivo CAR-T pipelines in preclinical development.

Regarding this transaction, a Kite spokesperson stated that the strategic cooperation with Pregene Biopharma can accelerate the clinical proof-of-concept research for in vivo treatments by integrating complementary technologies and expertise. Zhang Jishuai, co-founder and chief scientist of Pregene, also noted that through this collaboration, Kite's extensive experience in cell therapy will be combined with the company’s unique strengths to jointly overcome key technical barriers, expedite the advancement of proof-of-concept studies, and strive to bring breakthrough therapies to patients more quickly, especially in areas such as oncology, autoimmune diseases, and other fields in urgent need of innovation.

Pengpai News reporter Xiaoxiao Li