The star of GSK’s Hengrui partnership is the COPD candidate HRS-9821, which will complement the pharma’s respiratory pipeline that’s anchored by the anti-asthma drug Nucala.
In one of the biggest licensing pacts signed so far this year, GSK has put $12 billion on the line to partner with China’s Hengrui Pharma and advance up to 12 novel therapies for respiratory, immunology and oncology indications.
The collaboration, announced Monday, will involve a $500 million upfront payment from GSK. The pharma will also be on the hook for development, regulatory and commercial milestones that could hit as high as an eye-watering $12 billion if GSK options all 12 programs under the partnership, and if all those programs meet their milestones. Hengrui will also be entitled to tiered royalties on net global sales of any product arising from this deal, except in mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
At the heart of Monday’s deal is Hengrui’s PDE3/4 inhibitor HRS-9821, being developed for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). According to Hengrui, the asset is currently in Phase I development as an add-on maintenance therapy. The asset can also be formulated as a dry-powder inhalable, making it a good fit for GSK’s “established inhaler portfolio,” according to Monday’s release.
Alongside HRS-9821, Monday’s deal includes up to 11 other programs, each of which will come with individual financial structures.
For all programs under the partnership, Hengrui will take charge of early-stage development, including in patients outside of China. GSK will then have the exclusive option to take any of these programs forward, assuming responsibility over their clinical development and commercialization worldwide, except in the Greater China region.
For GSK, these Hengrui-partnered programs will “complement our already-extensive pipeline,” chief scientific officer Tony Wood said in a prepared statement on Monday. In COPD, for instance, GSK owns the anti-IL-5 antibody Nucala, which the FDA approved for the indication in May. The pharma also continues to deepen its respiratory pipeline, buying Aiolos Bio in January 2024 for $1.4 billion and gaining access to the long-acting monoclonal antibody AIO-001 for moderate-to-severe asthma.
While the total sum is not guaranteed to be paid out, GSK’s $12 billion play on Monday is the largest licensing deal of the year so far, eclipsing peers Roche and AstraZeneca’s individual $5.3 billion partnerships signed earlier this year.
GSK’s outlay also rivals some of the biggest acquisitions, landing as the second-largest biopharma deal of 2025 under Johnson & Johnson’s $14.6 billion acquisition of Intra-Cellular Therapeutics in January.
The Hengrui deal is likewise the heftiest China deal this year so far, eclipsing Merck’s nearly $2 billion lipid-lowering collaboration also with Hengrui in March, Regeneron’s roughly $2 billion obesity bet with Hansoh Pharmaceuticals last month and even Pfizer’s potential $6 billion PD-1/VEGF play with 3SBio in May.
