Shanghai – May 17, 2024 – Cooley advised Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (Hengrui), one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in China, on its licensing of global rights (excluding Greater China) for the development, production and commercialization of three of its proprietary glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs to Hercules CM Newco (Hercules), a newly established Delaware company. Hercules is funded by a $400 million investment from Bain Capital Life Sciences Fund, Atlas Venture, RTW Capital and Lyra Capital.
Partner Christina Zhang led the Cooley team advising Hengrui in the transaction.
Under the agreement terms, Hengrui will receive an upfront payment of $100 million and a near-term tech transfer milestone payment of $10 million, totaling $110 million, with the potential for clinical development and regulatory milestone payments of up to $200 million, sales milestone payments of up to $5.725 billion, and sales royalties ranging from low single digits to low double digits. As a part of the consideration for the exclusive license, Hengrui will acquire a 19.9% equity stake in Hercules.
Cooley previously supported Hengrui in its exclusive worldwide (excluding mainland China) license agreement with Merck KGaA in October 2023 and its global license agreement (excluding the Greater China region and Korea) with Elevar Therapeutics in November 2023.
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