AstraZeneca has returned to recent licensing partner CSPC Pharmaceutical with $110 million in upfront cash to start work on finding new oral drugs for a range of chronic diseases.
The Friday morning release didn’t go into details of the specific conditions targeted by the latest collaboration, only saying that the two companies will work together on preclinical candidates for “multiple targets with the potential to treat diseases across chronic indications,” including a therapy for “immunological diseases.”
AstraZeneca previously tapped CSPC in October 2024 to license the Shijiazhuang-based biotech’s preclinical cardiovascular disease drug for $100 million upfront.
This morning’s deal, which AstraZeneca said “strengthens the ongoing collaboration” between the two companies, will also see CSPC eligible for up to $1.62 billion in potential development milestone payments and up to $3.6 billion in sales milestones along with single-digit royalties should any resulting drugs make it to market.
CSPC will use its artificial-intelligence-driven, dual-engine efficient drug discovery platform to analyze the binding patterns of target proteins with existing compound molecules in order to identify those with the highest chance of success in clinical trials, according to the release.
“This strategic research collaboration underscores our commitment to innovation to tackle chronic diseases which impact over two billion people globally,” Sharon Barr, Ph.D., head of biopharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, said in a statement.
“Forming strong collaborations allows us to leverage our complementary scientific expertise to support the rapid discovery of high-quality novel therapeutic molecules to deliver the next-generation medicines,” Barr added.
The British pharma said the pact with CSPC “furthers AstraZeneca's presence in China.” AstraZeneca recently announced plans to establish a global strategic R&D center in Beijing as part of a $2.5 billion investment in the city, although the company’s China strategy took a hit when authorities detained AstraZeneca’s former China head Leon Wang last year as part of a probe into potential illegal drug importation.