Simcere Zaiming has granted Roche exclusive worldwide rights to develop, manufacture and commercialize SIM0660, a trispecific antibody. The deal is worth up to $1.53 billion in total payments, including a $75 million upfront, plus tiered royalties of up to double digits on future net sales. Roche will now take the programme forward globally.
Medtronic announced a strategic partnership with surgical robotics company Cornerstone Robotics on September 1, involving a $700 million strategic investment. Medtronic will distribute the Cornerstone laparoscopic surgical robot system alongside its Hugo robotic-assisted surgery system, combining the two complementary platforms with Medtronic's connected surgical ecosystem to expand access to robotic-assisted surgery worldwide.
Novartis has signed a deal worth up to $3.2 billion with Alteogen for access to its subcutaneous drug delivery technology platform, becoming the third drugmaker to pay for the technology this year. Biogen and GSK previously reached similar deals with Alteogen.
Dizhe Pharmaceutical (Dizhe Medicine) said its July 14, 2026 license agreement with AstraZeneca has taken effect, granting AstraZeneca exclusive worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Sunvozertinib (Shuwozhe). AstraZeneca plans to launch the drug in the US in the fourth quarter of this year. Dizhe receives a $600 million upfront payment, up to $400 million in clinical development milestones, up to $500 million in sales milestones, and tiered royalties on global sales from high single to low double digits.
Dizhe Pharmaceutical (Dizhe Pharmaceutical) has filed an H-share listing application with the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in August 2026, four years after raising about 2.1 billion yuan on the STAR Market. Concurrently, a global exclusive license with AstraZeneca for sunvozertinib (sunvozertinib, DZD9008), effective August 31, gives Dizhe a $600 million upfront payment, up to $400 million in development milestones and up to $500 million in sales milestones, plus tiered royalties; AstraZeneca will commercialize the EGFR exon20ins NSCLC drug in the US in Q4 2026. Dizhe posted 522 million yuan in revenue in H1 2026 and will channel proceeds into clinical development of golidocitinib, DZD6008 and birutinib (DZD8586).
Eli Lilly has agreed to acquire Merida Biosciences, a four-year-old Cambridge, Massachusetts autoimmunity and allergy biotech, in a deal valued at up to $2.88 billion. The acquisition gives Lilly MER511, a Phase I Fc therapeutic that binds anti-TSHR autoantibodies for Graves' disease and thyroid eye disease. Merida raised a $121 million series A in 2025 co-led by Bain Capital Life Sciences, BVF Partners and Third Rock Ventures.
Ascendis and BioMarin have reached a global patent settlement over Yuviyel, under which Ascendis will pay BioMarin a 20% royalty on U.S. net sales of Yuviwel. Royalties are retroactive to the first commercial sale and run through May 2030.
Duality Biotherapeutics has entered an antibody-drug conjugate collaboration with Roche, its second large ADC deal in about a year. Duality receives $45 million upfront and is eligible for development, regulatory and commercialisation milestone payments exceeding $1 billion across the partnered programmes, plus tiered royalties on annual net sales if an approved product reaches the market. Further financial details and programme specifics were not disclosed.
DualityBio has entered a global collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, part of the Roche Group, to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates using its proprietary DUPAC platform, the DualityBio Unique Payload Antibody Conjugate Platform. DualityBio will receive a $45 million upfront payment and is eligible for potential development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments totaling more than $1 billion, plus tiered royalties on annual net sales of approved products.
DualityBio has entered a global collaboration and license agreement with Roche's Genentech to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates using its proprietary DUPAC payload platform. DualityBio receives $45 million upfront and is eligible for over $1 billion in potential development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments plus tiered royalties. DualityBio leads discovery and early global clinical development, while Genentech takes exclusive worldwide rights and responsibility for further development and commercialization after Phase 1a completion.
Duality Biological (DualityBio) and Genentech, part of the Roche Group, have entered a global collaboration and licence agreement to develop next-generation antibody-drug conjugates using DualityBio's DUPAC platform. DualityBio will generate ADCs with DUPAC payloads against oncology targets nominated by Genentech, which receives exclusive worldwide rights and will lead further clinical development and commercialisation after Phase 1a completion. The deal is worth more than $1 billion.
DualityBio has entered a global collaboration and license agreement with Genentech, part of the Roche Group, to develop next-generation ADCs based on its proprietary DUPAC payload platform, one of its four ADC technology platforms. DualityBio will conduct early clinical development globally, while Genentech takes responsibility for later clinical development and worldwide commercialization. DualityBio receives an upfront payment, is eligible for development, regulatory and commercialization milestone payments, and will receive tiered royalties on annual net sales of approved products.
Duality Biotherapeutics has entered a collaboration with Roche to develop new-toxin antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) through its DUPAC platform, one of four ADC technology platforms the company has built. Under the agreement, Duality Biotherapeutics receives a $45 million upfront payment, milestone payments exceeding $1 billion, and tiered sales royalties. DUPAC covers a toolbox of 3 novel payloads and has the potential to overcome TOP1i resistance.
Roche's Genentech is paying DualityBio $45 million upfront for rights to antibody-drug conjugates built on the Chinese biotech's Dupac platform, with the deal worth more than $1 billion in potential milestones. DualityBio will generate and develop ADCs that deliver Dupac payloads, designed to retain efficacy in tumors that progress on topoisomerase-based ADCs such as Enhertu and Trodelvy, to Genentech-picked targets, with Genentech taking sole responsibility for development after phase 1a. BioNTech, GSK and BeiGene struck earlier deals for DualityBio ADCs in 2023 and 2024.
SK Biopharmaceuticals is paying Biohaven $350 million up front for an exclusive worldwide license to opakalim (BHV-7000), a late-stage seizure therapy, plus the Kv7 potassium channel platform behind it. The deal adds a program to SK Biopharma's epilepsy franchise behind Xcopri, its partial-onset seizure drug and primary growth product, while refreshing Biohaven's balance sheet. SK Biopharma takes a step toward its goal of becoming a big biotech.
SK Biopharmaceuticals is paying $350 million upfront as part of a deal worth up to $795 million in total to license Biohaven's Kv7 ion channel activator for development in epilepsy, with a planned market launch in 2029.
Why it matters: The brief gives the $350 million upfront and $795 million total, letting readers anchor the financial and timeline terms of this epilepsy licensing deal.
McKesson, ranked eighth on the Fortune 500 list, has agreed to acquire privately held Precision Medicine Group for $2.25 billion. The deal will fold the company into McKesson's oncology branch as part of an effort to grow its high-margin cancer and biopharma services businesses. The acquisition has not yet closed.
Roche, through its Genentech unit, is paying Hanmi Pharmaceutical $190 million up front for rights to HM17321, a Ucn2 analog for obesity that has begun a Phase I trial in healthy volunteers and patients with obesity. Milestones could raise the deal's value to $2.3 billion, and Hanmi is eligible for royalties outside South Korea, where it retains the program's rights. The asset would complement at least four other clinical programs in Roche's obesity pipeline.
Genentech has licensed HM17321, Hanmi Pharmaceutical's non-incretin drug designed to reduce fat while preserving or increasing lean body mass, under an exclusive agreement. Hanmi receives $190 million upfront, with total deal value up to $2.3 billion through development, regulatory and commercial milestones, plus tiered royalties after launch. Hanmi keeps all rights in South Korea, while Genentech handles development, manufacturing and commercialization elsewhere; next steps are further development of the molecule.
Ipsen has completed its acquisition of U.S. clinical-stage company Kartos Therapeutics, about two months after signing the definitive merger agreement on June 29, 2026. The deal totals $1.75 billion, comprising a $450 million upfront payment and up to $1.3 billion in regulatory and sales milestone payments, giving Ipsen the Phase III oral MDM2 inhibitor navtemadlin (KRT-232) for myelofibrosis. The global Phase III POIESIS trial, enrolling over 600 patients at more than 250 centers on top of ruxolitinib in TP53 wild-type patients with inadequate ruxolitinib response, continues, with topline data expected in 2027.
