After a subdued August, Chinese biotech financing and licensing activity rebounded sharply in September.



Chinese biotech companies closed 24 primary market deals in September, raising a combined $8.05 billion—up 103% from $3.97 billion in August, according to PharmaDJ. The deals spanned AI drug discovery, radioligand therapy (RLT), targeted protein degradation, cytokine therapies, and T-cell engagers, with rounds concentrated at seed through Series A+ stages.

AI drug discovery continued to attract substantial capital. Anew Labs, ByteDance's Shanghai-based AI drug discovery spinoff, closed the month's largest round—a $290 million fundraise led by HSG, IDG Capital, and GL Ventures. The unit has been operating since 2021 and recently unveiled an AI-designed small molecule targeting IL-17, a protein previously considered undruggable.

Other AI-driven biotechs that raised in September included NUTSHELL Therapeutic, with a tens-of-millions-dollar Series C1; Aifei Intelligent Pharma, with a RMB 100-million-plus angel round; and Pamplona Therapeutics, with a Pre-A round for AI-driven targeted protein degradation.

September saw 15 out-licensing deals from Chinese biotech, with $1.05 billion in upfront payments and $14.65 billion in total deal value.



GSK, Merck & Co., Novo Nordisk, Eli Lilly, Roche, and Novartis all tapped Chinese innovation, with assets predominantly at Phase 1 or preclinical stages.




After failed negotiations with Revolution Medicines, Merck & Co. turned to China for a KRAS G12D asset. The company licensed preclinical oral KRAS G12D (ON) inhibitor SPR2015 from SciBrunch Therapeutics for a $400 million upfront payment and up to $2.13 billion in total potential value.

GSK struck two deals. The first was with HUTCHMED for ex-China rights to HMPL-A830, a first-in-class KRAS-EGFR antibody-targeted therapy conjugate, in a deal worth up to $1.3 billion. The second was with Chimagen Biosciences for a trispecific T-cell engager (TCE) with a total potential value of up to $750 million.

Roche was equally active. Its subsidiary Genentech licensed Simcere Zaiming's preclinical CD79a/CD19/CD3 trispecific T-cell engager SIM0660 for $75 million upfront and up to $1.53 billion in milestones, gaining exclusive global rights to the B-cell targeting asset. Separately, Genentech partnered with Earendil Labs on multiple bispecific antibody programs in oncology, paying $55 million upfront in a collaboration potentially worth over $1.5 billion.

Novo Nordisk licensed Hengrui Pharma's once-weekly oral GLP-1/GIP dual agonist HRS-1596 for $300 million upfront, with total potential value up to $2.6 billion.

Eli Lilly entered a strategic research and licensing collaboration with InnoCare Pharma to discover compounds against up to five undisclosed targets, with up to $100 million in upfront and near-term payments and approximately $3.25 billion in development and commercial milestones.

Novartis licensed a preclinical radioligand therapy asset from Suzhou-based BoomRay Pharmaceuticals in a deal worth up to $900 million, including an upfront payment and development, regulatory, and sales milestones.