Suzhou Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals Co., Ltd.

Merck (NYSE: MRK) has signed two clinical collaboration agreements and two memorandums of understanding with Chinese biotech companies through its MSD R\&D China Innovation Collaboration Center, targeting oncology and autoimmune disease programs for potential global development. The formal agreements cover antibody drug development in autoimmune diseases with Hangzhou Medimscience Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd, and molecular glue degrader programs in oncology with Degron Therapeutics, while MOUs with Zelgen Pharmaceutical and InventisBio (SSE STAR: 688382) establish exploratory frameworks for future collaboration. Financial terms were not disclosed. Deal context The collaboration with Degron centers on the company’s molecular glue degrader platform, described by Degron as GlueXplorer. Molecular glues are small molecules that induce or stabilize interactions between an E3 ubiquitin ligase and a target protein, directing the target for destruction by the cell’s proteasome. The mechanism operates catalytically — the drug is released after each degradation event — and can silence proteins that lack conventional binding pockets, a category that has historically resisted small-molecule drug development. Degron’s platform is built around more than 10,000 compounds spanning over 150 non-IMiD scaffolds. The collaboration with Medimscience covers antibody drugs in autoimmune disease. Neither the molecule identity nor the biological target has been disclosed. The two MOU partners, Zelgen and InventisBio, are at an earlier exploratory stage. InventisBio’s known pipeline includes small molecules directed at genomic instability mechanisms in cancer. The MCICC was established in 2024 as a dedicated unit within Merck’s global R\&D organization to source and advance early-stage programs from China’s biotech ecosystem. The center has engaged with more than 530 local companies and conducted detailed exchanges with over 100 of them. The two formal collaboration agreements signed in May represent the third and fourth such agreements since the center’s founding. Industry and transaction context Merck’s decision to formalize clinical co-development agreements through a dedicated China-based unit, rather than through conventional in-licensing, reflects a structural shift in how large pharmaceutical companies are engaging with Chinese biotech innovation. The MCICC model positions Merck as a development partner rather than a rights acquirer, with the stated goal of advancing China-originated programs into global clinical practice. The inclusion of a molecular glue degrader company is consistent with broader industry activity in targeted protein degradation. Degron Therapeutics signed a collaboration with Takeda worth up to USD 1.2 billion in May 2024, covering multiple oncology, neuroscience, and inflammation targets across the GlueXplorer platform. That deal represented one of the largest molecular glue partnerships disclosed to date and established Degron as a platform-level partner for major pharmaceutical companies. This article was generated with AI assistance and reviewed and edited by the AllSci editorial team Explore more at AllSci News: https://allsci.com/news/ Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked * Comment * Name * Email * Website Copyright © 2026. AllSci Corp. All rights reserved.

UCB has turned to the east to bolster its immunology pipeline with a T-cell engager (TCE), licensing China-based Antengene Corporation’s ATG-201— a novel CD19/CD3 bispecific designed for B cell-driven autoimmune diseases — in a deal worth up to $1.18 billion.ATG-201 is developed using Antengene’s proprietary AnTenGager platform, which applies steric hindrance-based masking to enable disease antigen-dependent CD3 engagement. It combines bivalent CD19 binding with a proprietary fast-on/fast-off CD3 binder, aiming to achieve potent B-cell depletion while minimising cytokine release syndrome risk and T-cell exhaustion."Access to Antengene's cutting-edge [TCE] platform technology enhances our ambition to lead in immunology," said Alistair Henry, chief scientific officer at UCB.Under terms of the agreement announced Tuesday, UCB secures an exclusive licence to develop, manufacture and commercialise ATG-201 globally, alongside access to associated manufacturing technology. Antengene will pocket $60 million upfront, with eligibility for an additional $20 million in near-term milestones, followed by over $1.1 billion in success-based milestone payments, plus tiered sales royalties.Antengene will complete Phase I studies of ATG-201— planned in China and Australia — before transferring further development responsibilities to UCB. The former noted it retains nine additional disclosed programmes in its pipeline, spanning autoimmune diseases, solid tumours and haematological malignancies. The latest pact adds to a rising wave of licensing activity around TCEs. Earlier this year, AbbVie signed a $1.2-billion deal with Suzhou Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals for ex-China rights to the trispecific alveltamig. More recently, Astellas committed $1.7 billion to partner with Vir Biotechnology on a dual-masked CD3 TCE.

iStock, vzphotos Primarily known as an immunology and neuroscience company, AbbVie wanted to put the biopharma world on notice during its J.P. Morgan presentation: its oncology portfolio is underappreciated. This week, the Illinois-based company dove into the sizzling PD-1/VEGF space with a licensing deal with China-based RemeGen. It’s a poorly kept secret in biopharma that AbbVie intends to become the leading neuroscience company in the near future. It was a point the Illinois-based behemoth reiterated during its J.P. Morgan presentation on Wednesday. “We anticipate being the largest neuroscience player in the industry soon,” Scott Reents, the company’s chief financial officer, said during the presentation. But this wasn’t the only point the company wanted to highlight. “And then the oncology pipeline is something we’re also very excited about that probably isn’t as appreciated as we’d like it to be,” Reents said. AbbVie took significant strides earlier this week to drive this point home, kicking off JPM26 with a licensing deal potentially worth nearly $5 billion for ex-China rights to RemeGen’s PD-1/VEGF bispecific. The pact—which will see AbbVie front $650 million—puts the company squarely in the middle of the hottest new trend in immuno-oncology, on which peers Bristol Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Merck have collectively bet more than $20 billion biobucks. “We feel that can be a very nice complement to our c-MET franchise,” Reents said. AbbVie’s Emrelis, a c-Met-directed antibody and microtubule inhibitor conjugate, was approved by the FDA last May for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with high c-Met protein overexpression. When asked about AbbVie’s overall approach to oncology R&D, Roopal Thakkar, executive vice president of research & development and chief scientific officer, said the company has “a very strong pipeline internally in a very active research group. . . . So we get assets out of that, a fairly consistent stream.” Indeed, AbbVie currently has 18 investigational drugs in various stages of clinical development listed in its pipeline. However, pointing to the RemeGen deal, Thakkar said, “I think you could anticipate from us looking externally for ways to complement the ADC franchise and on the [hematology] side as well.” The RemeGen pact is far from the only oncology deal AbbVie has inked in recent months. Earlier this month, the company committed more than $1 billion in milestones for the ex-China rights to a Phase III DLL3xDLL3 T cell engager from Suzhou Zelgen Biopharmaceuticals that could challenge Amgen’s Imdelltra. And heading into JPM, AbbVie was one of two companies rumored to be interested in buying Revolution Medicines and its pipeline of targeted drugs for RAS-driven cancers. AbbVie has since denied the rumor. While AbbVie is a well-diversified company with a significant presence in oncology and neuroscience, as well as eye care and aesthetics, it is possibly best known for its success in the immunology space, and the company’s executives spent half the presentation discussing its megablockbusters. Now three years past the Humira loss of exclusivity cliff, AbbVie provided 2027 guidance of $31 billion inclusively for successor products Skyrizi ($20 billion) and Rinvoq ($11 billion). AbbVie plans to provide 2026 guidance for the two drugs when it presents its full-year 2025 earnings on Feb. 4. Reents expressed confidence in the immunology duo’s revenue potential throughout the next several years. “The runway is really significant still through the end of the decade and even into the 2030s as we go forward,” he said. “And that’s based on a certain way these immunology markets are structured and the breadth and depth that we have with both of those assets.”