On November 20th, AstraZeneca announced that it has reached a global exclusive licensing agreement with Usynova for the pre-clinical stage small molecule candidate drug UA022 targeting KRASG12D mutation.
Usynova is an emerging biotech company focusing on the two major areas of oncology and autoimmune diseases. UA022 is an orally administered drug developed by Usynova that selectively targets KRAS G12D mutation. It has strong anti-tumor activity and good safety profile.
Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will receive global exclusive licensing rights for the research, development, and commercialization of UA022. Usynova will be eligible to receive an upfront payment of $24 million and potential development and commercialization milestone payments of up to $395 million.
This marks the fifth collaboration between AstraZeneca and Chinese biotech companies this year. In fact, apart from AstraZeneca, numerous multinational pharmaceutical companies have been actively initiating collaborations with local pharmaceutical companies. As the second-largest pharmaceutical market in the world, China is attracting more and more overseas pharmaceutical companies to establish their presence.
AstraZeneca collaborates with Chinese pharmaceutical companies five times to target early-stage innovative drug assets
This year, AstraZeneca has frequently cooperated with Chinese pharmaceutical companies and has been very serious about exploring opportunities in China. On November 9th of this year, AstraZeneca announced a licensing agreement worth over 2 billion US dollars with Eccogene for the oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist ECC5004. Eccogene was established in April 2018 and is an innovative drug research and development company focused on metabolism and immune diseases. ECC5004 is a once-daily oral GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) used for the treatment of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and other cardiovascular and metabolic diseases.
On February 23rd, AstraZeneca, Keymed Biosciences, and Lepu Biopharma jointly announced a global exclusive licensing agreement for CMG901. CMG901 is a potential first-in-class ADC targeting Claudin18.2. It is owned by KYM Biosciences, a joint venture between Keymed Biosciences, and Lepu Biopharma. According to the agreement, KYM will receive a prepayment of 63 million US dollars, potential additional milestone payments of over 1.1 billion US dollars related to research, development, and sales, as well as a low double-digit tiered royalty fee; AstraZeneca will obtain exclusive global license for CMG901 research, development, registration, production, and commercialization.
On May 12th, AstraZeneca and Lanova Medicines reached a global exclusive licensing agreement for the preclinical GPRC5D-targeting ADC LM-305. Under the terms of the agreement, AstraZeneca will obtain exclusive global license for the research, development, and commercialization of LM-305; Lanova Medicines will be eligible to receive near-term payments totaling 55 million US dollars, including an upfront payment, as well as potential development and commercial milestone payments of up to 545 million US dollars.
On June 16th, AstraZeneca and Cholesgen reached a 3-year research and development cooperation agreement for the development of innovative drugs for hypercholesterolemia and related metabolic diseases. Under the terms of the agreement, Cholesgen receives an upfront payment to advance the drug to the clinical stage; AstraZeneca will then have the option to further develop the target drug. Cholesgen was established in 2021 and is dedicated to developing first-in-class innovative drugs, focusing on truly novel disease targets, and conducting innovative pharmaceutical research for metabolic diseases and tumors.
In addition to cooperating with Chinese pharmaceutical companies, AstraZeneca has also established a research center in Hong Kong focused on key areas such as cell and gene therapy (CGT) drug development. More clinical trials will be conducted in Hong Kong in the future, and the center is expected to be ...
(All Rights Reserved)