This tracker lists licensing deals between China-based companies and overseas partners, in either direction. It covers deals announced between 19 August and 14 October 2026. We count a deal once both companies have announced a signed agreement. Some of these deals still need regulatory approval before they formally complete; we mark those in the tables.
Our figures cover the deals we identified from public announcements. They are not an estimate of the whole Chinese licensing market.
The headline numbers
- 22 signed deals in eight weeks.
- About US$24 billion in total potential value, plus €779 million across two deals priced in euros. Most of this money will only be paid if the medicines reach agreed development, approval and sales targets.
- More than US$1.5 billion in upfront payments, from the seven deals that state this figure separately (six in Table 1, plus Nhwa–Somnivera).
- 20 of the 22 deals moved rights from a China-based company to an overseas partner. Two moved rights into China: 1cBio to Lee’s Pharm, and Amberstone to Henlius.
- At least 8 of the 10 largest deals cover medicines that had not yet been tested in patients.
One further deal, MicuRx–ClearideBio, was announced as a proposal. We will add it once the agreement is signed.
Key terms used in this tracker
- Upfront payment: money paid when the deal is signed or completed.
- Milestone payments: money paid only if the medicine reaches agreed targets, such as starting a trial, gaining approval or reaching a sales level.
- Total potential value: upfront plus all possible milestone payments, as reported by the companies. Royalties on future sales come on top.
- Greater China: mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
- Preclinical: tested in the laboratory but not yet in people.
- NewCo: a new company set up by investors to develop a licensed medicine. The Chinese company usually takes a share in it.
The ten largest deals
Ranked by total potential value. Arrows show the direction of the licence.
| Date | Companies | What was licensed | Stage | Upfront | Total potential value | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2 Oct | Abogen Biosciences → Novartis | ABO2203, an mRNA medicine that makes the body produce its own CD19×CD3 T-cell engager; autoimmune disease. Plus options on further RNA programmes. | Not stated | US$575m | ~US$7.78bn† | 1 |
| 24 Sep | InnoCare → Eli Lilly | Research on up to five undisclosed targets | Discovery | Up to US$100m* | ~US$3.35bn | 2 |
| 29 Sep | Hengrui Pharma → Novo Nordisk | HRS-1596, a once-weekly GLP-1/GIP pill; obesity and type 2 diabetes | Ready for first human trial | US$300m | Up to US$2.6bn† | 3 |
| 28 Sep | SciBrunch → Merck (MSD) | SPR2015, an oral KRAS G12D inhibitor; cancer | Preclinical | US$400m | US$2.13bn | 4 |
| 25 Aug | Haisco → Sentivera (NewCo) | Undisclosed medicine for type 2 inflammatory diseases | Preclinical | US$75.89m‡ | Over US$1.5bn | 5 |
| 24 Sep | Earendil Labs → Genentech (Roche) | Several AI-designed bispecific antibodies (one antibody, two targets); cancer | Discovery | US$55m | Over US$1.5bn† | 6 |
| 3 Sep | HUTCHMED → GSK | HMPL-A830, an antibody that carries a KRAS inhibitor to tumours; bowel, lung and pancreatic cancer | First human trial due late 2026 | US$110m | Up to US$1.295bn† | 7 |
| 13 Oct | Rona Therapeutics → Roche | RNA interference medicine that switches off ALK7; obesity and metabolic disease | Not stated | Up to US$100m* | Up to US$1.16bn | 8 |
| 22 Sep | BoomRay → Novartis | Undisclosed radioligand therapy (a radioactive medicine that seeks out cancer cells) | Preclinical | Not disclosed | Up to US$900m | 9 |
| 15 Sep | Chimagen Biosciences → GSK | Trispecific T-cell engager (one antibody, three targets); multiple myeloma | Preclinical; first human trial planned for 2027 | Not disclosed | Up to US$750m†§ | 10 |
* Upfront and early milestone payments combined. Not counted in the upfront total.
† Signed but awaiting regulatory clearance or other closing conditions at the time of announcement.
‡ Upfront payment and equity in the new company combined.
§ GSK is buying the programme outright (an asset purchase) rather than licensing it.
The largest deal was Abogen–Novartis: US$575 million upfront and up to about US$7.2 billion more if Novartis takes up all its options and the programmes reach their milestones.
Rona–Roche was the most recent large deal. Roche will pay up to US$100 million at signing and soon after, plus up to US$1.06 billion if the medicine reaches later targets.
The other twelve deals
| Companies | What was licensed | Total potential value | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| CTTQ → Cipla | TQB2102, a bispecific antibody-drug conjugate targeting HER2; breast cancer. Rights for India, South Africa and five other emerging markets | Up to US$123m | 11 |
| Qilu → Cipla | US rights to a biosimilar of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) | Not disclosed | 12 |
| Gan & Lee → Menarini | Bofanglutide; obesity and overweight | €726m | 13 |
| 1cBio → Lee’s Pharm (into China) | OC-3, a preclinical PARP1 inhibitor; cancer. Rights for China and parts of Southeast Asia | Up to US$27m | 14 |
| Hebei Senlang → Tempest | Option on a platform that creates CAR-T and CAR-NK cells inside the patient; lead candidate (BCMA/GPRC5D) in Phase I | Need further clarification | 15 |
| Amberstone → Henlius (into China) | Platform for T-cell engagers that switch on only at the tumour | Not disclosed | 16 |
| CTTQ → STADA | Biosimilar of pembrolizumab (Keytruda) | Up to €53m | 17 |
| Nhwa → Somnivera (NewCo) | Medicine for sleep disorders; US$10.5m upfront plus a 15% share in the new company | US$517.5m | 18 |
| Asieris → Theramex | CEVIRA, a combined drug and device product | Over US$250m | 19 |
| Triastek → Johnson & Johnson | 3D-printing and oral-delivery technology for new pills, including peptides; J&J also invests in Triastek (9 Oct) | Not disclosed | 20 |
| Defand → Roche | Research on molecular glue degraders (medicines that make cells break down a disease-causing protein) | Not disclosed | 21 |
| Wuhan Hiteck → Visara | Nerve growth factor eye drops | ~US$111m | 22 |
Triastek–Johnson & Johnson stands out because it licenses a way of making and delivering medicines rather than a named drug. No product, target or financial terms were disclosed.
Four trends from this period
1. Large companies are licensing medicines earlier
At least eight of the ten largest deals cover medicines that had not yet been tested in patients: InnoCare, SciBrunch, Haisco, Earendil, Hengrui, HUTCHMED, BoomRay and Chimagen. Buyers get access to new science sooner, but they take on more risks. This is why most of the value in these deals depends on future milestones rather than money paid at signing.
2. A wider range of medicine types
Alongside conventional antibodies and antibody-drug conjugates, the period included:
- mRNA medicines that make the body produce its own treatment (Abogen)
- RNA interference, which switches off a single gene (Rona)
- radioactive medicines that target cancer cells (BoomRay)
- molecular glues (SciBrunch, Defand)
- antibodies with two or three targets (Earendil, Chimagen)
- CAR-T cells made inside the body (Hebei Senlang)
- drug-delivery technology for oral medicines (Triastek)
3. More deals outside cancer
Cancer still produced several large deals, including SciBrunch–Merck, HUTCHMED–GSK and Earendil–Genentech. But four of the ten largest deals were other than cancer: Abogen (autoimmune disease), Hengrui (obesity and diabetes), Haisco (inflammatory disease) and Rona (obesity). Obesity alone accounted for three deals, including Gan & Lee–Menarini.
4. Chinese companies usually keep their home market
Hengrui, HUTCHMED and Haisco all kept the rights for Greater China and licensed the rest of the world. Deal structures also varied: standard licences, research collaborations (InnoCare, Earendil, Defand), options on future programmes (Abogen, Hebei Senlang), two NewCos (Haisco–Sentivera, Nhwa–Somnivera) and one outright asset purchase (Chimagen–GSK). Two deals also brought overseas medicines into China (1cBio–Lee’s Pharm and Amberstone–Henlius).
What this means for manufacturing
In several deals, the partner now holds the right to manufacture the medicine outside China, not just to develop and sell it. Merck’s licence for SPR2015, Novo Nordisk’s licence for HRS-1596 and Sentivera’s licence from Haisco all state this.
Because many of these medicines are at an early stage, the partner will need to find manufacturing capacity for processes that are still being developed. That is harder for newer technologies such as mRNA, RNA interference, radioactive medicines and oral peptides, where fewer manufacturers have proven experience. In deals such as HUTCHMED–GSK, the Chinese company runs the first trial and the partner takes over later, which means the manufacturing process will also have to be transferred.
For buyers, the practical step is to start assessing manufacturing partners during the licensing review, not after the deal is signed.
In summary
China-based companies are now a regular source of new medicines for global drug makers, and buyers are signing earlier and across more types of medicine and disease. The headline values are large, but most of the money depends on future success, and the manufacturing work behind these medicines is becoming more complex.
How we compile this tracker
We use company announcements and stock-exchange filings. Values are shown in the currency the companies used and are not converted. “Total potential value” is the figure the companies reported; it is not a forecast of what will be paid. Each edition of the CDMO Hub tracker covers a fixed period.
Sources
- Abogen announcement, 2 October 2026: prnewswire.com
- InnoCare announcement, 24 September 2026: globenewswire.com
- Novo Nordisk announcement, 29 September 2026: novonordisk.com
- Merck announcement, 28 September 2026: businesswire.com
- Haisco announcement, 25 August 2026: prnewswire.com
- Earendil Labs announcement, 24 September 2026: prnewswire.com
- Pharmaceutical Technology, on HUTCHMED’s 3 September 2026 announcement: pharmaceutical-technology.com
- BioPharm International, on Rona Therapeutics’ 13 October 2026 announcement: biopharminternational.com
- BoomRay announcement, 22 September 2026: prnewswire.com
- GSK announcement, 15 September 2026: gsk.com
- SBP Group announcement, 31 August 2026: en.sbpgroup.com
- Cipla announcement: cipla.com
- Menarini announcement: menarini.com
- 1cBio announcement, 9 September 2026: prnewswire.com
- Tempest announcement: ir.tempesttx.com
- Henlius announcement: henlius.com
- STADA announcement: stada.com
- Nhwa Pharmaceutical announcement, 29 September 2026: nhwa-group.com
- Theramex announcement: theramex.com
- Triastek announcement: triastek.com
- Defand Therapeutics announcement, 8 October 2026, reproduced by ByDrug: bydrug.pharmcube.com
- Visara announcement, 13 October 2026: globenewswire.com
The PDF edition
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You have just read the whole thing. The PDF is the same analysis, typeset for circulation — the version to forward to business development or drop into a partner-selection pack.
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