JAB-23E73

Continued China biotech deals and Shionogi's ALS acquisition made our news. In the past three weeks, a flurry of licensing deals with Chinese biotechs were announced featuring AbbVie, AstraZeneca, Servier, Sanofi and Ipsen. Shionogi also beefed up its rare disease portfolio with a $2.5 billion deal for Tanabe Pharma’s amyotrophic lateral sclerosis franchise. And more.1. AbbVie, Gilead gift themselves clinical-stage cancer drugs via licensing dealsAbbVie is joining the DLL3 race via an option agreement for Zejing Biopharmaceutical’s trispecific T-cell engager, alveltamig. The Illinois pharma will pay $100 million upfront and another $60 million if it takes up the option on the drug outside of China. The total milestone payments could reach $1.07 billion. DLL3 is a hot target in small cell lung cancer.2. AstraZeneca fronts $100M for Jacobio's clinical-stage pan-KRAS inhibitorAstraZeneca has put down $100 million to obtain ex-China rights to a pan-KRAS inhibitor from Jacobio Pharma. The Chinese firm has been evaluating the candidate, coded JAB-23E73, in phase 1 studies in China and the U.S. The deal includes up to $1.91 billion in potential milestones.3. ALS med Radicava to change hands as Shionogi inks $2.5B buyoutShionogi will buy Tanabe Pharma’s amyotrophic lateral sclerosis business, including its Radicava operations, for $2.5 billion, plus potential future royalties. The acquisition will give Shionogi a “strong rare disease commercial platform in the U.S. market,” potentially supporting its other launches in the space, the company said.4. Novo vs. KBP Chapter 4: Lessons from the $1.3B falloutIn the last chapter of the Novo Nordisk versus KBP Biosciences series, Fierce discussed eight lessons from the bitter breakup. Buyers should exercise extra caution when entering unfamiliar territories, while the buyers’ experience in a particular field should be factored into the sellers’ search for the best partner. The due diligence process should include an assessment of not just the asset itself but the seller’s clinical development capabilities.5. As biosim industry confronts looming 'void,' 2026 marks a chance to take stock and embrace changing landscapeOnly 73% of the U.S.’ 80 approved biosimilars had launched as of September 2025, according to a Samsung Bioepis report. This Fierce feature examined the status quo of the U.S. biosimilar market and why only 12 of 118 biologics that are expected to lose patent protection in the next 10 years have biosimilars currently in development.6. Insilico, fresh off its Hong Kong IPO, pens potential $888M cancer R&D pact with ServierArtificial intelligence drug discovery expert Insilico Medicine has pulled off a successful Hong Kong IPO, raising $293 million. The company’s shares jumped 25% in its debut. The biotech also unveiled an oncology-focused R&D collaboration with Servier. To leverage Insilico’s AI platform, Servier is paying $32 million in upfront and near-term R&D payments and committing up to $888 million.7. Sanofi's latest autoimmune bispecific pact with AI biotech could reach $2.5BIn another AI-fueled R&D pact, Sanofi offered Earendil Labs $160 million in upfront and near-term milestones to discover bispecific programs for autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. Should all candidates work out, the deal’s value could reach $2.56 billion. This is the second pact that Sanofi has inked with Earendil, an affiliate of China’s Helixon Therapeutics.8. Ipsen continues ADC push with $1B deal for Simcere's preclinical LRRC15-targeting assetTo help expand Ipsen’s antibody-drug conjugate pipeline, China’s Simcere Zaiming is licensing SIM0613, an ADC targeting leucine-rich repeat-containing 15. The French pharma plans to launch the first phase 1 trial of the ADC in the second half of 2026. The entire deal could be worth up to $1.06 billion.9. Despite geopolitical pressures, China biotech deals remain at pace as collective value soars: EvaluateAs evident by those transactions above, China continued to serve as a key source of biotech innovation despite geopolitical uncertainties last year. By early December, Evaluate had tallied 142 China biopharma deals in 2025, a slight uptick from the 134 recorded in 2024. Mark Lansdell, asset and portfolio strategy practice lead at Evaluate, said he expects the China deal pace to continue in 2026.10. Samsung Biologics pays GSK $280M to secure first US manufacturing siteSamsung Biologics will pay $280 million to acquire GSK’s Human Genome Sciences and its two pharmaceutical manufacturing plants in Rockville, Maryland. The site will be Samsung Bio’s first production facility in the U.S., with a total capacity of 60,000 liters of drug substance. Other News of Note: 11. Daiichi Sankyo tallies $1.9B in planned Enhertu manufacturing investments: Nikkei12. Instil's stock sinks after it clears out pipeline, hands 2 drugs back to ImmuneOnco13. Rakuten lights path to 2028 FDA filing with fresh $100M raise14. Takeda taps Halozyme to develop new version of Entyvio (release)15. VC Aditum Bio launches new biotech in business play with Fosun Pharma16. Hutchmed heats up autoimmune race with phase 3 win, teeing up China filing17. Aspen divests certain APAC businesses for $1.6B (release)18. Japanese OTC drugmaker Hisamitsu to go private in CEO’s $2.9B deal (Bloomberg)19. Daiichi taps Genesis to handle commercialization of leukemia med Vanflyta in 13 European countries20. 3 Chinese biotechs seek Hong Kong IPO (filing, filing, filing)21. Nxera licenses certain APAC rights to Santhera’s DMD med Agamree (release)