Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) and Chinese biopharma company Hengrui Pharma have inked one of the largest licensing and collaboration deals in the industry’s history, centering around several early-stage oncology, immunology and haematology assets.
The agreement, which will set BMS back $600m upfront and up to $175m on both the first and second anniversary of the deal, encompasses 13 early-stage programmes, with a potential full value of $15.2bn.
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Of the drugs tied into this deal, four are haematology assets developed by Hengrui, for which BMS will secure the exclusive global rights outside of China, Hong Kong and Macau. Meanwhile, BMS created four of the immunology candidates linked to the agreement, which Hengrui has locked down the rights to in these Greater Chinese regions.
The pair have also added another dimension to this deal by penning a co-development agreement centred on five innovative assets. While both companies shared sparse details on these early-stage drugs, Hengrui will be eligible to join BMS in global commercial activities for certain medicines associated with the collaboration, pending approval.
As per the agreement, BMS has pledged to pay Hengrui up to $14.25bn in milestones and the potential exercising of joint discovery portions of the deal, making it one of the highest-value deals seen within the history of the pharma industry.
Dr Robert Plenge, executive vice president of BMS said: “By leveraging complementary capabilities across geographies, we aim to accelerate early clinical learning and make informed decisions that support driving top tier growth in the next decade and, ultimately, our mission to deliver medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.”
Fending off the patent cliff
BMS’s deal with Hengrui comes after the former revealed middle-of-the-road Q1 results, as it prepares to weather the patent expiry headwinds soon to hit some of its best-selling medications like Opdivo (nivolumab) and Eliquis (apixaban).
As biosimilar erosion holds the potential to shave tens of billions off the pharma company’s yearly income, BMS has made several moves to restock its pipeline and usher in the next generation of blockbuster medicines. For example, the company acquired Orbital Therapeutics and its CAR-T therapies for $1.5bn, while signing an $850m licensing deal with Janux Therapeutics for its solid tumour-targeting drug.
Outside of these recent deals, BMS is currently progressing multiple drugs through late-stage trials – including its potential Eliquis successor, milvexian, which Adam Lenkowsky, executive VP and chief commercialisation officer, says could have “true blockbuster potential”.
BMS is also exploring the potential of its marketed schizophrenia medicine, Cobenfy (xanomeline/trospium chloride), in Alzheimer’s psychosis through the pivotal ADEPT programme, with a readout expected from this trial in late 2026.
