Two pharmaceutical industry employees are seen wearing protective gloves, masks, hats and white suits, standing near machines that are part of pharmaceutical manufacturing during working hours.
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Innovent Biologics shares rose 10% after the company signed a deal with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer to develop oncology drugs.
The collaboration includes licensing, co-development and co-commercialization opportunities across a diverse portfolio of antibody-drug conjugates and includes the research and development of 12 breakthrough early-stage and de novo cancer treatments, the company said in its filing.
Innovent will share costs with Pfizer to develop four global programs. In addition, the Hong Kong-listed biotech will co-commercialize with Pfizer in the US and Europe and share the profits, while Innovent will retain rights to these programs in the Greater China market.
Innovent will receive an upfront payment of $650 million and is eligible to receive up to $9.85 billion in development, regulatory and commercial milestones, bringing the total contract value to up to $10.5 billion.
“In addition, Innovent will receive up to double-digit royalties on each product sale, if approved,” the company said, adding that the deal is subject to regulatory approvals.
Amid concerns about the increase in tumor-related diseases worldwide, collaborations between biotechnology companies and pharmaceutical companies are attracting attention.
According to the Gibson Dunn report, “Big pharma in particular leveraged licensing as a surgical tool to address short-term pipeline gaps ahead of the 2026-2030 patent cliff.”
Innovent shares rose 6.41% to HK$79.65.
