$350 million upfront payment, total amount reaches $8.5 billion! Innovent Biologics collaborates with Eli Lilly on new tumor immunotherapy drug development.

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Eli Lilly will pay Chinese biopharmaceutical company Innovent Biologics $350 million in upfront payments. The two parties will jointly develop new drugs in the fields of oncology and immune diseases, marking further recognition of Chinese pharmaceutical companies' innovation capabilities by multinational pharma companies.

Innovent Biologics announced on Sunday that the company may receive milestone payments up to $8.5 billion. This partnership breaks through the traditional drug licensing model—Lilly is not buying rights to any specific medicine in Innovent’s existing pipeline, but instead, both sides will create new drugs from scratch. The number of specific drugs involved in the agreement was not disclosed.

Boosted by this news, Innovent Biologics’ Hong Kong shares rose up to 8.6% on Monday.

This deal represents a new model of cooperation between Chinese biotech companies and multinational pharma. In recent years, multinational pharmaceutical companies have continuously brought in investigational drugs from Chinese pharma, but this collaboration goes further—establishing a global strategic partnership before the compounds are even created.

Innovative Collaboration Model Breaks Through Traditional Licensing Framework

Innovent Biologics Chief Business Officer Samuel Zhang said in an investor conference call:

"In terms of the nature of the deal, this means Innovent already has a global strategic partner before even creating compounds."

Innovent Biologics stated in its announcement that this agreement marks a new collaboration model to accelerate the company’s global drug development. This is the seventh collaboration between the two parties, and the previous six involved drugs for cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Last year, Innovent also signed licensing agreements with Roche Holdings and Takeda Pharmaceuticals.

Under the terms of the agreement, Innovent Biologics will be responsible for drug development from concept stage through completion of phase 2 clinical trials in China, leveraging its strong antibody technology platform and efficient clinical execution capabilities. Lilly will obtain exclusive rights to develop and commercialize these drugs outside Greater China, while Innovent will retain the rights in Greater China.

Innovent’s founder, chairman, and CEO Michael Yu stated:

"We are pleased to partner with Lilly, a trusted global pharma company, to develop new drugs for improving treatment outcomes for cancer and immune disease patients. This alliance goes beyond the traditional licensing model, creating a seamless, end-to-end innovation ecosystem that combines our agile discovery and early development engine with Lilly’s extensive global scale."

In addition to the upfront payment, Innovent is eligible for development, regulatory, and commercial milestone payments based on future specific events met, and will receive tiered royalties on net sales of each product outside Greater China.

Chinese Pharma Out-licensing Transactions Continue Heating Up

A JPMorgan report shows that in 2025, outbound licensing deals from China to overseas reached a historic high, with upfront payments totaling at least $6 billion and potential deal values reaching $120 billion. This momentum has continued into the new year, with AstraZeneca recently signing a weight-loss drug deal with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group worth up to $18.5 billion.

Innovent Biologics has launched 16 products on the market so far, has two new drug applications under regulatory review, four assets in phase 3 or pivotal clinical trials, and another 15 molecules in early clinical development. The company has established partnerships with over 30 global healthcare companies, including Lilly, Sanofi, Incyte, LG Chem, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.

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