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AstraZeneca has agreed a licensing deal worth up to $4.7bn with Chinese group CSPC Pharmaceuticals to develop weight-loss and diabetes drugs, as it seeks to expand in the fast-growing market.
The UK-listed drugmaker said it would pay $1.2bn upfront and potentially another $3.5bn if regulatory and development milestones are met. The deal gives it access to SYH2082, CSPC’s once-monthly injectable drug candidate that is about to start early-stage clinical trials, as well as three other weight-management drug candidates.
AstraZeneca will own global rights for the drugs excluding China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macau.
The deal is a boost for AstraZeneca’s obesity pipeline where it has three treatments in different stages of development. The pharma group is confident it can compete in a market currently dominated by Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly that analysts have forecast could be worth $100bn by 2030.
Shares in AstraZeneca, one of the UK’s most valuable listed companies, were flat in morning trading on Friday after the news.
Sharon Barr, AstraZeneca’s head of biopharmaceuticals research and development, said the deal, which extends an existing partnership, would advance AstraZeneca’s “weight management portfolio by delivering novel assets which complement” its existing programmes.
Major pharmaceutical companies are allocating more of their investment budget to China.
In 2023, AstraZeneca licensed a weight-loss pill from China’s Eccogene. Under that deal, Eccogene received an initial upfront payment of $185mn, with an additional $1.8bn upon achieving certain milestones. Analysts say that the huge boom in overseas interest meant that over the past couple of years, Chinese biotechs had been able to command higher prices for their products and were ploughing the cash into their pipelines to develop new drugs.
AstraZeneca has increased its investment in China, its second-largest market by sales, building out local manufacturing supply chains, agreeing deals with local companies and setting up a new research and development facility in Beijing.
On Thursday, it announced plans to invest $15bn in China by 2030. The figure includes some existing commitments but still signals a substantial long-term bet on the country.
AstraZeneca stepped up its engagement in China after its former China boss Leon Wang was arrested in late 2024 in connection with an investigation of illegal drug sales in the country.
