GSK forges $12bn alliance with China's Hengrui

GSK has moved to shore up its R&D pipeline with a strategic-level deal with China's Jiangsu Hengrui Pharma that spans a dozen drug candidates and could be worth up to $12.5 billion.

The wide-ranging agreement – which aims to broaden GSK's presence in respiratory, immunology and inflammation, and oncology – will give "significant new growth opportunities to the company beyond 2031," said the UK-headquartered pharma group in a statement.

GSK is paying $500 million upfront to get the ball rolling on the alliance, claiming rights to the first programme, a PDE3/4 inhibitor codenamed HRS-9821 in clinical development for the treatment of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), outside China and some of its territories.

HRS-9821 is being developed as an add-on maintenance treatment for COPD, regardless of background therapy, and could complement GSK's anti-IL-5 antibody Nucala (mepolizumab), which recently claimed its first approval as a treatment for the serious respiratory disease, as well as older COPD drugs like Trelegy Ellipta (fluticasone furoate/umeclidinium/vilanterol).

COPD is the third leading cause of death worldwide, affecting more than 300 million people globally, and is an important growth driver for GSK's respiratory franchise.

GSK said the PDE3/4 inhibitor will support its efforts to "treat patients across the widest spectrum of COPD by including those who face continued dyspnoea (shortness of breath) or who are unlikely to receive inhaled corticosteroids or biologics, based on their disease profile." The drug also looks likely to be compatible with GSK's dry powder inhaler (DPI) technology.

The Chinese firm will lead the development of HRS-9821 and the other 11 programmes up to the completion of phase 1 trials, including those involving patients outside of China, said GSK.

For GSK, the deal continues its strategy of building up its pipeline through a series of external deals as it prepares to face patent expiry in 2027 for HIV drug dolutegravir, one of its biggest sellers, as well as competition to shingles vaccine Shingrix, currently its top product, from the likes of Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna.

Just this year, for example, the company has paid $1.2 billion upfront to buy metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) candidate efimosfermin alfa from Boston Pharma and acquired IDRx and its gastrointestinal cancer candidate IDRX-42 for $1 billion.

The deal also exemplifies the emergence of China's biotech sector as a major source of R&D candidates for pharma groups in the US and Europe, and Hengrui itself has previously signed big-ticket deals with MSD and Merck KGaA, amongst others.