Several pharma CEOs met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. President Donald Trump's reciprocal tariffs have mostly spared pharmaceuticals. BioNTech's PD-L1xVEGF bispecific antibody, bought from China's Biotheus, showed promise in small cell lung cancer. And more.
1. AstraZeneca, Sanofi, Lilly, Pfizer CEOs meet with Xi Jinping amid US-China trade tensions
The CEOs of AstraZeneca, Bayer, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, GSK, Merck KGaA, Pfizer and Sanofi joined more than 40 international business leaders to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing a week ago. Sanofi’s Paul Hudson was among seven business officials from different countries who spoke at the meeting. In his speech, Xi highlighted the importance of maintaining a stable China-U.S. relationship.
Pharmaceuticals were excluded from President Donald Trump’s reciprocal tariffs on a slew of countries unveiled April 2. However, the omission from country-specific duties does not mean pharmaceutical-specific tariffs, which Trump has repeatedly threatened, are off the table.
3. BioNTech shows off lung cancer survival data behind phase 3 push for red-hot bispecific
BioNTech has unveiled promising Chinese phase 2 data for its recently bought PD-L1xVEGF bispecific antibody BNT327 in extensive-stage small cell lung cancer. Among 48 patients who had completed at least one tumor evaluation, BNT327’s combination with chemotherapy led to a median overall survival of 16.8 months. The result appeared to be better than what Roche’s Tecentriq and AstraZeneca’s Imfinzi have shown in separate phase 3 trials that supported their approvals.
4. Merck KGaA pays $85M to nab global rights for Abbisko's rare tumor drug after phase 3 win
After bagging a positive phase 3 trial in tenosynovial giant cell tumors, Merck KGaA has expanded its licensing deal with Abbisko Therapeutics for the CSF-1R inhibitor pimicotinib to include the global market. The German company originally paid $70 million for the drug’s greater China commercialization rights. Now, it’s paying an $85 million option fee for rights in the rest of the world.
Japanese conglomerate Marubeni is shelling out 45 billion Japanese yen ($300 million) for a 60% stake in a new company created based on Sumitomo Pharma’s operations in Asia, which generated about 45.8 billion Japanese yen ($305 million) in 2024 revenues. The firm will become Marubeni’s “pharmaceutical strategic platform.” After 2029, Marubeni can purchase the remaining shares for about $180 million.
Other News of Note:
6. Hanmi restructures, aims to be ‘master of new drug development’ (Korea Biomedical Review)
7. Apollomics hands Asia rights to its lead c-MET inhibitor to Taiwan’s LaunXP in $60M deal
8. Eisai offloads proton pump inhibitor Chinese rights for about $100M (release)
9. Astellas partners with JFCR to drive oncology R&D (release)