May 12 (Reuters) – Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, China’s biggest drugmaker by market value, on Tuesday said it struck global collaboration and licensing deals with U.S. drugmaker Bristol Myers Squibb that include potential milestone payments of up to $15.2 billion.
Hengrui shares were up about 8% in Shanghai after the announcement.
For Hengrui, a specialist in oncology, neurology, immunology, respiratory, metabolic and cardiovascular drugs, the deals will boost its potential sources of income as Beijing’s centralised bulk-buying programmes squeeze generic drug revenues.
The deals come amid increasing interest from foreign drugmakers in Chinese drugmakers and follow a string of similar agreements. Hengrui has previously struck licensing deals with other multinational pharmaceutical firms including Merck and Britain’s GSK.
The latest deal with Bristol Myers Squibb covers four cancer and blood-disease drug candidates from Hengrui, four immunology candidates from Bristol Myers Squibb and five additional projects the companies will work on together.
All 13 programmes are still at very early stages and have not yet entered human clinical trials, Hengrui said in a statement.
Under the terms, Bristol Myers Squibb will secure worldwide rights to Hengrui-developed assets outside mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau, while Hengrui will gain exclusive rights to Bristol Myers Squibb’s programmes in those markets.
The companies expect the agreements to close in the third quarter of 2026.
(Reporting by Roushni Nair in Bengaluru and Andrew Silver in Shanghai; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
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