(Yicai) Dec. 30 — Chinese drugmaker Hengrui Pharmaceuticals granted the exclusive global rights to its delta-like ligand 3-targeting antibody-drug conjugate to US clinical-stage oncology firm IDEAYA Biosciences in a deal potentially worth just over USD1 billion.
Hengrui and IDEAYA have inked an exclusive global license agreement for SHR-4849 and will establish a joint management committee to coordinate the worldwide development and commercialization of the drug, the Lianyungang-based drugmaker announced yesterday.
Hengrui will receive an upfront payment of USD75 million, development milestone payments of up to USD200 million, and sale milestone payments of up to USD770 million, it said. It will also get single to double-digit percentage royalties on annual net sales, it added.
SHR-4849 was approved for clinical trials for treating advanced malignant solid tumors by China’s National Medical Products Administration in June. No DLL3-targeting ADC treatments have been approved globally, with several in clinical trials.
Established in 2015, California-based IDEAYA had USD1.2 billion worth of assets as of Sept. 30, with USD59 million of liabilities and USD1.2 billion of shareholders’ equity. It reported a net loss of USD113 million last year on revenue of USD23 million.
ADC drugs have become an area of focus in the pharmaceutical sector in recent years, with the global ADC market likely to exceed USD40 billion by 2026, according to Citic Securities.
Shares of Hengrui [SHA: 600276] rose 0.7 percent to CNY46.43 (USD6.36) apiece as of 10.10 a.m. in Shanghai today, after earlier jumping by as much as 1.3 percent.
Editor: Martin Kadiev
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