(Yicai) Sept. 25 -- Shares of Hengrui Pharmaceuticals rose after the Chinese drugmaker agreed to license a class I cancer therapy to a unit of India’s Glenmark Pharmaceuticals for select overseas markets in a deal valued at as much as USD1.1 billion. It is Hengrui's fourth such deal this year. 

The Jiangsu province-based company’s shares [SHA: 600276] closed up 3.1 percent at CNY72.27 (USD10.15) each in Shanghai today. The stock has gained 57 percent so far this year.

Glenmark Specialty will receive the exclusive global rights outside of China, the United States, Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia, and the members and associated states of the Commonwealth of Independent States to trastuzumab rezetecan, an antibody-drug conjugate cancer treatment, Hengrui announced late yesterday.

Under the deal, Glenmark Specialty will make an USD18 million upfront payment, will make milestone payments of as much as USD1.09 billion based on the drug's registration and sales, and will also pay royalties at an agreed-upon percentage of sales.

China approved trastuzumab rezetecan in May for adult patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, while its use in treating breast cancer entered the regulatory approval stage this month. In addition, combining the drug with adebrelimab and chemotherapy for gastric cancer or gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma received orphan drug designation from the US Food and Drug Administration last month.

Glenmark Specialty operates 11 world-class drug manufacturing facilities worldwide, Hengrui noted, adding that Glenmark Pharmaceuticals was among the top 100 global biopharmaceutical companies by drug sales in 2023, citing the Scrip 100 ranking.

Overseas licensing of novel medicines has become one of Hengrui’s major sources of earnings growth. Earlier this month the company announced a licensing deal with the US' Braveheart Bio that could bring in as much as USD1.1 billion by granting global rights outside China to an innovative heart drug.

In July, the company granted GSK the exclusive global rights to a portfolio of early-stage drug candidates in a deal worth as much as USD12 billion after licensing HRS-5346, an oral small molecule lipoprotein(a) inhibitor in phase II clinical trials, to Merck outside of China for up to USD2 billion in March.

Hengrui has inked 17 overseas licensing and cooperation deals, bringing revenue of nearly CNY2 billion (USD280 million) in the first half of the year, which accounted for about 13 percent of its total income.

Editor: Martin Kadiev