HANGZHOU, June 1 (Reuters) – U.S. drugmaker Eli Lilly has entered into an agreement to collaborate on and possibly licence experimental medicines from a unit of Haisco Pharmaceutical Group, with potential payments of up to around $3 billion if milestones are met, the Chinese drugmaker said Monday.
The deal is one of the latest for China’s biotech sector amid increasing interest from foreign drugmakers in local businesses’ development pipelines, and marks an expansion of collaborations for Lilly itself.
Lilly has also entered partnerships with other Chinese drugmakers including Innovent Biologics and Hutchmed.
The latest deal with the Haisco unit covers innovative drug projects, Haisco said in a filing to the Shenzhen stock exchange.
Under the terms, Lilly will secure worldwide rights to select Haisco unit assets outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
The unit is eligible to receive up to $87 million in upfront and near-term payments, and up to about $3 billion in additional payments tied to clinical, regulatory and commercialisation-related milestones.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Hangzhou, Editing by Louise Heavens)
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