Pfizer licenses 3SBio cancer drug for record $1.2bn

Pfizer will pay $1.25 billion upfront to license an experimental cancer drug out of China, in a deal that underscores multinational drugmakers’ growing enthusiasm for Chinese biotech innovation.

The deal grants Pfizer rights to develop and commercialise a drug from Shenyang-based 3SBio currently in clinical testing for multiple tumor types, according to a press release. In addition to the upfront payment — which sets a new record for China licensing deals — 3SBio is eligible for up to $4.8 billion in downstream fees if the drug hits all milestones.

Shares of 3SBio jumped as much as 52% in Hong Kong, the most on record, extending gains for the third consecutive session.

The deal lifted health-care peers on Tuesday, including ApicHope Pharmaceutical Group and Zhejiang Huahai Pharmaceutical, whose shares rose by the 20% and 10% onshore daily limits, respectively.

A health-care subgauge was the top performer among Hang Seng Composite Index, jumping as much as 3.8%. CSPC Pharmaceutical Group and Innovent Biologics Inc. gained as much as 9.6% and 8.9%, respectively, in Hong Kong.

Betting on China 

The pact with Pfizer was a record outbound deal for a Chinese biotech firm, according to Rebecca Liang, a pharmaceutical and biotechnology senior analyst at Bernstein.

“From the market reactions we see investors take this as a testament to the increasingly innovative quality of the sector as a whole,” she said.

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer will also make a $100 million equity investment in Hong Kong-listed 3SBio, which sells a range of medicines in China for cancer, autoimmune diseases, kidney conditions, skin disorders and more.

Many of Pfizer’s peers have bet on China-originated drugs to refill their pipelines over the past year. The number of large pharma licensing deals from China reached a record high in 2024, according to GlobalData, with 28% of innovator drugs licensed from Chinese companies.

The trend has continued in 2025. Novo Nordisk A/S and Merck & Co both shelled out $200 million upfront in recent months for an obesity drug and a heart medicine, respectively.

With this new deal, Pfizer is joining a small club of challengers going after Merck’s Keytruda, the world’s top-selling medicine. 3SBio’s drug works in the same way as a therapy from China’s Akeso Inc. that outperformed Keytruda in one trial. Notably, Merck also picked up a similar drug from Chinese biotech LaNova Medicines.

Pfizer previously partnered with Akeso’s US partner, Summit Therapeutics, to test combinations of Akeso and Summit’s drug with Pfizer’s own therapies. That research pact will not be affected by the new deal, according to Daiwa Capital Markets analyst Wilfred Yuen, citing a response from Pfizer.

3SBio plans to start the first late-stage study for the drug in China this year. While Pfizer did not outline its own clinical plans, it said in a statement that it will manufacture the drug in the US.

The new deal should alleviate investors’ concerns about geopolitical risks to the out-licensing trend, which has boosted Chinese biotechs, Citigroup analysts wrote in a note.

“Global expansion is the key investment thesis for the innovative pharma/biotech names,” wrote the analysts. Citigroup raised 3SBio’s price target to HK$21.00 ($2.7) from HK$13.00 after the deal.

© 2025 Bloomberg

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