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Julie Zhang

Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceutical, China’s largest drug company by market capitalisation, has signed a global collaboration and licensing agreement with US pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) worth up to US$15.2 billion.
Hengrui’s Hong Kong-traded shares climbed 5.3 per cent to HK$69.55 on Tuesday, while its Shenzhen stock rose 4.84 per cent to 56.11 yuan.
The deal adds credibility to China’s growing reputation for innovative drug development. Industry players, however, said the country still had some way to go before it gained a “genuine voice” in the global pharmaceutical industry.
The collaboration covers four oncology and haematology programmes originating from Hengrui, four immunology assets from BMS, and another five novel programmes to be jointly developed using Hengrui’s discovery platforms. All 13 programmes are at the preclinical stage, according to a filing with the Hong Kong stock exchange.
BMS has agreed to pay Hengrui up to US$950 million in near-term consideration, including an upfront payment of US$600 million. The overall deal value could reach about US$15.2 billion if all development, regulatory and commercial milestones are met and options on the co-discovery projects are exercised.

Hengrui will also be entitled to tiered royalties on sales of partnered products outside mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau.
“By leveraging Hengrui’s growing research and development capabilities and proven efficiency in discovering and advancing innovative therapies, we are poised to advance the best of both pipelines,” said Frank Jiang, executive vice-president and chief strategy officer of Hengrui in a statement.
Robert Plenge, executive vice-president of BMS, said that by drawing on complementary capabilities across geographies, “we aim to accelerate early clinical learning and make informed decisions that support driving top-tier growth in the next decade and, ultimately, our mission to deliver medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases”.
The deal underscores how Chinese drug makers are becoming an important source of innovative medicines for Western pharmaceutical companies racing to plug looming patent gaps. China accounted for about 30 per cent of the global experimental drug pipeline, according to a January report from McKinsey.
Cross-border out-licensing by Chinese biotech firms surged to US$60 billion in transaction value in the first quarter of 2026, a 73 per cent jump from a year earlier, according to China’s National Medical Products Administration.
At a panel discussion at the Asia Summit on Global Health in Hong Kong on Monday, Horace Wu, executive director of Hangzhou Tigermed Consulting, said China must strengthen every link in the value chain to gain a “genuine voice” in the global pharmaceutical industry.
“We need advances not only in basic and clinical research, but also in policy support and patient capital,” Wu said. “The highest value segments of the biopharma chain are still largely in foreign hands. We are strong in drug discovery and manufacturing, yet we remain relatively weak in areas such as first-in-class target discovery, global pricing power and worldwide commercialisation.”
Seth Zhang, founder and CEO of Shanghai MediTrust Health Technology, said if China managed to build a more robust healthcare payer system over the next five to 10 years, even at only about half the scale of US commercial health insurance, the country could potentially support a biopharmaceutical market worth around US$1 trillion.


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Company’s shares jump in Hong Kong and Shenzhen after tie-up that bolsters China’s growing drug innovation profile


Company’s shares jump in Hong Kong and Shenzhen after tie-up that bolsters China’s growing drug innovation profile.


China’s Hengrui seals US$15.2 billion deal with US pharmaceutical giant BMS

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Company’s shares jump in Hong Kong and Shenzhen after tie-up that bolsters China’s growing drug innovation profile

Company’s shares jump in Hong Kong and Shenzhen after tie-up that bolsters China’s growing drug innovation profile