Roche, Hansoh seal $15 billion-plus ADC partnership for cancer drugs

Roche entered a strategic collaboration and license agreement with China’s Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group focused on antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) cancer programs. Under the terms, Hansoh receives an upfront $400 million, a $110 million payment on the first anniversary, and stands to earn more than $15 billion in milestone payments linked to development, regulatory approval and commercialization, together with tiered royalties.

Hansoh retains development, registration and commercialization rights in mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan, while Roche will assume responsibility for the programs outside those markets and may co-develop up to two selected programs for U.S. commercialization. The deal includes two pre-clinical ADC projects and additional targets built on Roche-proposed molecules using Hansoh’s proprietary ADC platform. Eliza Sun, executive director of the board at Hansoh, and Boris L. Zaïtra, head of corporate business development at Roche, said the partnership deepens their joint ADC vision. This is the second ADC-focused agreement between the firms and adds to Roche’s recent surge in China-related deals amid a broader trend of Chinese biotech licensing activity.