The centerpiece of the deal is orelabrutinib, a BTK inhibitor in late-stage development for multiple sclerosis that Biogen once paid $125 million for but abandoned after less than two years of testing.
Like many of its biopharma peers, Zenas BioSciences is looking to China for innovative therapies to take forward, signing a global licensing deal with Beijing-based InnoCare Pharma for multiple autoimmune drug candidates, including one in Phase III for multiple sclerosis.
According to a statement Wednesday, Zenas is fronting $100 million in cash to cover the contract’s upfront and near-term payments, including certain milestones anticipated next year. At the same time, the Boston-area company included up to 7 million shares of its common stock in the exchange, some of which are issuable after InnoCare hits a milestone in early 2026.
Aside from these considerations, the Chinese collaborator will also receive development, regulatory and commercial sales milestones for all three programs. All told, the deal’s total value could be upwards of $2 billion, the companies announced. InnoCare will also be eligible to tiered royalties reaching up to the high-teens percentage on annual net sales of the three licensed drugs.
In a statement, Zenas CEO Lonnie Moulder called Wednesday’s arrangement “transformative,” giving the drugmaker three promising clinical assets, including one that could end up become a “blockbuster franchise for progressive MS [multiple sclerosis].”
That treatment for MS is the BTK inhibitor orelabrutinib, an oral drug capable of penetrating into the central nervous system. In July 2021, Biogen paid $125 million upfront and put up to $812.5 million on the line for exclusive global rights to orelabrutinib, except in the greater China region. In February 2023, however, the pharma turned its back on this partnership and returned orelabrutinib to InnoCare.
Orelabrutinib is approved for several hematological cancers in China, including chronic lymphocytic leukemia, small lymphocytic lymphoma, mantle cell lymphoma and marginal zone lymphoma. The drug has yet to clear the FDA’s bar in the U.S., but is currently undergoing a Phase III global and registration-directed trial in primary progressive MS, the companies announced Wednesday. Zenas also plans to run a late-stage global program for orelabrutinib, set to start in the first quarter of 2026.
Aside from orelabrutinib, the InnoCare deal will also give Zenas obexelimab, a monoclonal antibody that inhibits B cell function and is being proposed for IgG4-related disease, relapsing MS and systemic lupus erythematosus. The Boston drugmaker will also get an oral IL-17AA/AF blocker and an oral, brain-penetrant TYK2 inhibitor, both of which are in early development.
2025 has seen a sharp uptick in China deals. According to an analysis by IQVIA in August, biopharma committed as much as $48.5 billion in Chinese contracts just in the first half of the year, already outpacing the industry’s $44.8 billion pledge in all of 2024. Among the standout deals are Pfizer’s May contract with 3SBio, which involved a $1.25 billion upfront payment with up to $4.8 billion in milestones.
AstraZeneca has also been a prolific dealmaker with Chinese firms this year. The pharma in June partnered with CSPC for $5.3 billion, just three months after it put $4.5 billion on the line for Harbour Biomed.
