Hengrui Medicine Enters into Global Licensing Agreement with GSK for HRS-9821 and Up to 11 Early-Stage Programs, Securing $500M Upfront

On July 28, Hengrui Pharma announced that it had reached an agreement with GSK to grant GSK the global exclusive rights (excluding mainland China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region) for the HRS-9821 project and the exclusive option for global exclusive licenses for up to 11 projects (excluding mainland China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, the Macao Special Administrative Region, and Taiwan region) on a paid basis.

HRS-9821 is a PDE3/4 inhibitor currently in clinical development for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) as an adjunctive maintenance therapy, regardless of prior treatment regimens.The drug has demonstrated potent PDE3 and PDE4 inhibitory effects in early clinical and preclinical studies, thereby enhancing bronchodilation and anti-inflammatory actions, and providing an opportunity for the development of a convenient dry powder inhaler (DPI) formulation.

The other 11 projects involve innovative drugs in multiple therapeutic areas such as oncology, respiratory, autoimmune, and inflammation, and are currently in the preclinical research stage. Hengrui Pharma will lead the development of these projects until the completion of Phase 1 clinical trials, including data from participants on an international scale. GSK will have the exclusive option to further develop and commercialize each project globally (excluding mainland China, Hong Kong SAR, Macao SAR, and Taiwan region) by the latest at the completion of Phase 1 clinical trials, as well as the substitution rights for certain projects.

In this collaboration, GSK will pay Hengrui Pharma an upfront payment of 500 million US dollars. If all projects are exercised and all milestones are achieved, Hengrui will be eligible to receive a potential total amount of approximately 12 billion US dollars based on successful development, regulatory, and sales milestone payments in the future.