Hengrui and GSK to develop medicines in key therapeutic areas

HRS-9821 aligns with GSK’s goal to address a broad spectrum of COPD patients. Credit: OleksSH / Shutterstock.com.

Hengrui Pharma has signed an agreement with GSK for the development of up to 12 innovative medicines across several therapeutic areas, including respiratory, immunology and inflammation, and oncology.

The collaboration is poised to enhance Hengrui’s globalisation strategy and provide GSK with significant growth opportunities beyond 2031.

GSK will pay an upfront fee of $500m, which includes licensing for the phosphodiesterase (PDE)3/4 programme.

The potential value of future success-based payments to Hengrui Pharma could be close to $12bn, assuming all programmes are optioned and milestones met. Hengrui Pharma is also set to receive tiered royalties on worldwide product net sales, with certain regional exclusions.

A highlight of the agreement is the worldwide licence for HRS-9821, a PDE3/4 inhibitor in clinical development for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD).

HRS-9821 aligns with GSK’s goal to address a broad spectrum of COPD patients, including those with ongoing dyspnoea or those less likely to be prescribed inhaled corticosteroids or biologics.

In early trials, this inhibitor showed positive anti-inflammatory and bronchodilation effects. Its potential for a dry-powder inhaler formulation could integrate well with GSK’s existing inhaled portfolio.

Hengrui Pharma executive vice-president and chief strategy officer Frank Jiang stated: “GSK brings additional research and development expertise, a robust global clinical network and broad regulatory capabilities that will accelerate our PDE3/4 inhibitor as well as an array of other innovative therapy programmes to overseas markets, potentially delivering breakthrough treatments to patients globally.”

Beyond HRS-9821, the collaboration includes up to 11 additional programmes.

Hengrui Pharma will spearhead the development up to Phase I trials, after which GSK may opt to develop further and commercialise the programmes globally, excluding mainland China, the Macau special administrative region (SAR), Hong Kong SAR and Taiwan.

This scaled collaboration is designed to expedite the development of innovative medicines, leveraging GSK’s expertise and global reach alongside Hengrui Pharma’s discovery and clinical evaluation capabilities.

The licensing of HRS-9821 is contingent upon customary regulatory clearances, including under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Act in the US.

In March 2025, MSD entered an exclusive licence agreement with Hengrui Pharma for the investigational oral small-molecule lipoprotein(a) [Lp(a)] inhibitor, HRS-5346.

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