The Bristol/HengRui guessing game begins

Given that yesterday’s cross-continent tie-up between Bristol Myers Squibb and Jiangsu HengRui is worth a meaty $600m up front, it’s surprising that the projects and targets of the licensing deal have been kept secret.That won’t stop investors from making educated guesses, and some detective work on the OncologyPipeline database throws up a few possible candidates. These include a quartet of haematology projects originated by the Chinese company, along with a few ADCs – a modality for which Bristol has relied on business development in the past.What has been disclosed is that all the projects involved are preclinical, and that oncology/haematology is specifically the subject of four undisclosed HengRui assets to which Bristol is picking up ex-China rights.These probably don’t include HengRui’s AR degrader SHR3591 or KRAS G12D inhibitor SHR1127, or the unnamed anti-PD-1 x CTLA-4 x VEGF trispecific presented at AACR last month. That’s because Bristol already has a presence in these approaches, through gridegalutamide, the Mirati-derived MRTX1133 (though that’s now discontinued) and the BioNTech/Biotheus originated pumitamig respectively.HengRui’s preclinical haematology pipeline does include four projects in which Bristol might have been interested, including an anti-CD19 x CD20 T-cell engager that was also profiled at AACR. The other three have undisclosed targets/modalities, but all recently received Chinese regulatory clearance to enter the clinic.New targetsIn solid tumour settings HengRui has a number of preclinical-stage ADCs against targets Bristol isn’t known to be working on, including tissue factor, LIV-1, Claudin6 and PSMA. In PSMA it’s also developing a conditionally activated prodrug that was the subject of another AACR poster.The last is interesting because the same approach is being pursued by Janux through two assets, JANX007 and JANX014. In January Janux signed a discovery deal with Bristol to develop undisclosed conditionally acting therapies for solid tumours, but this didn’t encompass rights to JANX007 or JANX014.HengRui’s deal with Bristol additionally includes the Chinese group gaining rights to four Bristol assets with potential in immunology indications, and calls for the companies to collaborate to discover five projects using HengRui’s technologies, but with undisclosed modalities and uses. Financials also include two $175m payments, on the deal’s first and second anniversaries.Last July HengRui signed a licensing deal with GSK that gave the UK company options over 11 preclinical projects in areas including oncology. Nothing was disclosed about the identity of any of these, and it can probably be assumed that the Bristol tie-up doesn’t encompass them, unless GSK has since specifically opted out of any. Selected Jiangsu HengRui preclinical oncology projects*ProjectMechanism of actionIndicationNoteHaematologyUnnamedCD19 x CD20 T-cell engagerHematologic neoplasmsAACR 2026 posterSHR-5421UndisclosedMultiple myelomaIND approved Apr 2026HRS-1635UndisclosedB-cell malignanciesIND approved May 2026SHR-3079UndisclosedNon-Hodgkin’s lymphomaIND approved Apr 2026Solid tumoursSDP03923-000-9106LIV-1 ADCBreast cancerAACR 2024 posterCPD-1308CDK4/6 inhibitorBreast cancerAACR 2026 posterHRA00242-C004PSMA ADCProstate cancerAACR 2024 posterUnnamedPSMA T-cell engager (conditionally activated prodrug)Prostate cancerAACR 2026 posterC6PClaudin6 ADCSolid tumoursAACR 2025 posterHRA00184-C004TF ADCSolid tumoursAACR 2024 posterSHR-RAS001Pan-RAS (ON) inhibitorSolid tumoursAACR 2026 posterNote: *excludes assets with targets/modalities in which Bristol is known already to have a presence. Source: OncologyPipeline.