AstraZeneca and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group have already inked two other agreements this year, including an obesity-focused deal in January and one focused on chronic diseases in June.
AstraZeneca continues to look eastward for new pipeline assets, inking another contract with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group to work on investigational therapies for kidney diseases.
The deal, announced in a Thursday filing from the Chinese company, will involve a $30 million upfront payment from AstraZeneca. The pharma will also be on the hook for up to $540 million in development and up to $1.2 billion in sales milestone payments. CSPC will be eligible for single-digit royalties on net annual sales of products that reach the market.
AstraZeneca’s investment will provide access to CSPC’s AI-powered siRNA drug discovery engine, as well as the biotech’s targeted delivery platform. The partners will leverage these technologies to discover and develop pre-clinical molecules for two renal disease targets. It is unclear what specific conditions the companies plan on addressing, with Thursday’s announcement only indicating that they will work on “multiple indications.”
AstraZeneca will have the option to obtain exclusive rights to develop, manufacture and market these therapies outside of China. CSPC, meanwhile, retains full control over one of the assets in China.
AstraZeneca and CSPC previously partnered in January, with the pharma putting down $1.2 billion upfront for the Chinese company’s early-stage obesity therapy SYH2082, a long-acting GLP-1/GIP dual-agonist, alongside three other preclinical assets for obesity and other weight-related conditions. This agreement also involves four new programs that the companies will work on together.
Across these programs, AstraZeneca could also end up handing over up to $3.5 billion in research and development milestones, plus up to $13.8 billion in sales-based payments.
Last month, the pharma returned to CSPC with $110 million upfront, looking to leverage the biotech’s AI engine to develop oral drugs for chronic diseases. Milestones in this partnership involve $1.62 billion for R&D and $3.6 billion for sales-based successes. As with the most recent deal, the companies did not disclose what specific indications they will target.
Beyond CSPC, AstraZeneca has been a prolific investor in China. Just a day before the January CSPC deal, the pharma promised to inject up to $15 billion into operations in the Asian country. The funding will run through 2030 and help boost AstraZeneca’s cell therapy and radioconjugate capabilities, in turn improving its drug development capabilities in cancer and autoimmune diseases.
