China’s Innovent Biologics has entered into a global licensing and collaboration agreement with US-based Pfizer valued at up to $10.5 billion to advance 12 early-stage oncology programmes, amid a broader surge in licensing deals as global drugmakers tap cancer medicines emerging from China’s biotech ecosystem. The transaction includes a $650 million upfront payment to Innovent and up to $9.85 billion in potential development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, making it one of the largest publicly disclosed oncology licensing deals involving a Chinese biotech and a Western pharma company.
The multi-asset collaboration spans antibody-drug conjugates (ADCs) and multi-specific antibodies, platforms that are widely pursued in oncology for their potential to more precisely target tumour cells while limiting damage to healthy tissue. Eight of the 12 programmes originate from Innovent’s early-stage pipeline and four are discovery projects proposed by Pfizer, with Innovent expected to lead development through Phase 1 clinical trials before Pfizer assumes responsibility for subsequent global development.
Under a tiered structure, four programmes will be co-developed and co-commercialised, with the partners sharing profits in the United States and Europe while Innovent retains rights in Greater China, keeping it in a strong commercial position in its home oncology market. For another four assets, Pfizer will receive an exclusive licence outside Greater China, and for the remaining four it will hold exclusive global rights and cover all global development costs, providing the US drugmaker access to a range of Chinese-origin oncology assets across discovery and early clinical stages.
Innovent, together with its wholly owned units Innovent Biologics (Suzhou) and US-based Fortvita Biologics, has signed the pact, which remains subject to customary regulatory clearances. Under the terms of the agreement, Innovent is also eligible for tiered royalties on sales of any approved products, with royalty rates that may reach up to double‑digit levels according to the companies’ disclosures.
The announcement drew a strong response in the capital markets, with Innovent’s Hong Kong-listed shares climbing sharply and trading up by high single digits to around 10 percent at intraday highs after the deal was unveiled, as investors reacted to the scale of the potential milestone stream and validation of Innovent’s oncology platform. The move adds to a growing list of sizeable cross-border oncology tie‑ups, underscoring how Chinese biotechs have become important partners for multinationals seeking differentiated cancer assets.
The agreement comes against the backdrop of a broader surge in China-related biotech licensing, with the total value of such deals in the Greater China region reported to have risen nearly tenfold since 2021 to about $137.7 billion last year, according to data provider Pharmcube. Global pharma majors including Pfizer, Takeda, AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb have struck a series of oncology-focused partnerships with Chinese biotechs in recent years as they look to bolster pipelines amid looming patent expiries and pricing pressures in key markets.
Pfizer itself has been steadily deepening its China biotech partnerships, having announced an approximately $6 billion licensing agreement in 2025 with Shenyang-based 3SBio for experimental cancer immunotherapy SSGJ‑707 and, more recently, a commercialisation pact with Hangzhou Sciwind Biosciences for the obesity therapy ecnoglutide. Industry observers say the Innovent transaction fits with Pfizer’s strategy of supplementing its in-house oncology research with targeted business-development deals, while signalling Innovent’s growing appeal as a global partner on complex cancer drug programmes.
