Licensing analysis: Chinese deals abound

Western companies licensing Chinese assets has become a big trend, and this was seen again in the oncology space in the first quarter of 2026. The biggest deal was AbbVie’s agreement with RemeGen over the PD-1 x VEGF project RC148, worth $650m up front.

The second largest looks like Roche’s move for MediLink’s B7-H3-targeting ADC tambotatug pelitecan, for $570m in up-front and near-term milestones. This is the Swiss big pharma’s second bet on MediLink: in January 2024 it brought in YL211, a cMet-targeting ADC.

Other notable agreements in the first quarter included a collaboration between Lilly and Innovent, worth $350m up front. However, details are scant, with the partners only saying they’ll be working together on “novel medicines in oncology and immunology”. This marks the seventh time these companies have teamed up.

All three deals involve western companies bringing in China-originated assets, while smaller similar agreements last quarter included Sanofi’s licensing of Chia Tai’s JAK/ROCK inhibitor rovadicitinib, for $135m up front, and Gilead’s $80m purchase of Genhouse's MAT2A inhibitor, GH31.

Still, one large transaction involved a Japanese group bringing in a western asset: Astellas spent $315m on an agreement to co-develop Vir’s PSMA-targeting dual-masked T-cell engager VIR-5500. Embarrassingly, Sanofi had let that project go for $100m, after paying $1bn for its developer, Amunix.

Bristol Myers Squibb also forked out $50m in up-front and near-term milestones in January to collaborate with another player in the masked T-cell engager space, Janux. In April, the companies said they had nominated a development candidate, but still gave no details of the target involved.

Bispecific interest

Meanwhile, interest in PD-(L)1 x VEGF targeting assets shows no sign of waning: AbbVie’s agreement with RemeGen was the eighth in this space, and one of the biggest – although others, such as Pfizer and Bristol Myers Squibb, have paid more for their candidates.

RC148 is in or about to go into Chinese pivotal trials in first-line NSCLC and colorectal cancer, although AbbVie hasn’t yet disclosed global phase 3 plans. Other Chinese PD-(L)1 x VEGF projects remain unpartnered, so more deals could emerge in this arena.

AbbVie’s RemeGen tie-up follows several sizeable oncology licensing agreements last year: the group brought in Glenmark's trispecific T-cell engager ISB 2001 for $700m, and entered a $335m collaboration with ADARx Pharmaceuticals over small interfering RNA for oncology, among other uses. AbbVie also announced smaller deals with Xilio, over masked T-cell engagers; Neomorph, on molecular glue degraders; and Simcere, over a BCMA x GPRC5D-targeting T-cell engager.

Roche’s MediLink-up

Elsewhere, Roche’s bet on tambotatug pelitecan is another endorsement of MediLink’s vaunted tumour microenvironment “activable” linker-payload technology Tmalin, which also lies behind ADC assets picked up by Astellas, Zai Lab and BioNTech. MediLink noted that, as of January 2026, 13 ADCs based on Tmalin had entered clinical trials.

One intriguing deal in the first-quarter involved GSK licensing Alteogen’s Hybrozyme technology to develop a subcutaneous formulation of its PD-1 inhibitor Jemperli. The South Korean company also has agreements with Daiichi covering SC Enhertu, and with AstraZeneca over undisclosed assets.

The Jemperli deal is curious because Alteogen is already collaborating with Merck on a subcutaneous version of that group's PD-1 blocker, Keytruda. That's relevant because Alteogen's competitor Halozyme limits its SC technology licences to one per biological target.

Halozyme has separately alleged that SC Keytruda infringes its IP, a claim that might also become an issue for Astra and GSK.

Notable oncology licensing deals in Q1 2026

Source: OncologyPipeline.