Hengrui Pharma and Bristol Myers Squibb Announce Strategic Agreements to Advance Innovative Medicines Across Oncology, Hematology, and Immunology
Landmark collaboration leverages complementary capabilities to drive speed in early innovation and help advance medicines for patients worldwide
Agreements include 13 programs with the potential to address significant unmet patient needs and support long‑term growth
SHANGHAI and PRINCETON, N.J., May 12, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Hengrui Pharma (“Hengrui”) (600276.SH; 01276.HK) and Bristol Myers Squibb (“BMS”) today announced the companies have entered into global strategic collaboration and license agreements to advance a portfolio of 13 early stage programs in oncology, hematology and immunology, with the goal of accelerating discovery and development of innovative medicines for the benefit of patients worldwide.
The agreements include four oncology/hematology assets from Hengrui, four immunology assets from BMS, and five innovative assets to be jointly discovered and developed by both companies, leveraging Hengrui’s discovery engine and platform technologies across several innovative modalities. Hengrui has the option to co-develop select assets and the potential to conduct certain commercialization activities globally with BMS.
Under the collaboration, BMS obtains exclusive worldwide rights to the Hengrui‑originated assets outside Chinese mainland, Hong Kong SAR, and Macau SAR (the “Hengrui Territory”), while Hengrui obtains exclusive rights to the BMS‑originated assets within the Hengrui Territory, with BMS retaining rights for the rest of the world. Hengrui will be fully responsible for early clinical development to accelerate clinical proof of concept for these programs.
Aligned with the collaborative innovation strategies of both BMS and Hengrui, these agreements reflect the companies’ continued focus on advancing innovative science through partnership in areas of significant unmet medical need. The collaboration brings together BMS’s differentiated research and discovery strengths, global clinical development capabilities, regulatory expertise, and commercial scale with Hengrui Pharma’s discovery engine, platform technologies, and efficient early-stage development expertise, enabling the advancement of a broad portfolio of high-value programs.
“This broad strategic collaboration reflects a highly synergistic collaboration between two global innovators with complementary strengths. By leveraging Hengrui’s growing R&D capabilities and proven efficiency in discovering and advancing innovative therapies, we are poised to advance the best of both pipelines,” said Frank Jiang, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer of Hengrui Pharma. “It also reflects Hengrui’s continued commitment to strengthen our global presence. Together, we aim to deliver meaningful benefits to patients worldwide.”
“This strategic collaboration reflects our commitment to advancing innovative science while maintaining a disciplined approach to portfolio management,” said Robert Plenge, MD, PhD, Executive Vice President and Chief Research Officer, Bristol Myers Squibb. “By leveraging complementary capabilities across geographies, we aim to accelerate early clinical learning and make informed decisions that support driving top tier growth in the next decade and, ultimately, our mission to deliver medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases.”
Under the terms of the agreement, BMS will pay Hengrui up to $950 million, including a $600 million upfront payment, a $175 million first anniversary payment, and a second contingent anniversary payment of $175 million in 2028. The potential total value of the agreement is up to approximately $15.2 billion, including the exercise of available options for the joint discovery programs and the achievement of applicable development, regulatory, and commercial milestones for all programs. In addition, Hengrui is eligible to receive tiered royalties on net sales of products commercialized outside the Hengrui Territory.
The transaction is subject to review under the Hart‑Scott‑Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act and other customary closing conditions. The parties expect that the agreement will close in the third quarter of 2026.
About Bristol Myers Squibb: Transforming Patients’ Lives Through Science
At Bristol Myers Squibb, our mission is to discover, develop and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. We are pursuing bold science to define what’s possible for the future of medicine and the patients we serve. For more information, visit us at BMS.com and follow us on LinkedIn, X, YouTube, Facebook and Instagram.
Bristol Myers Squibb Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 regarding, among other things, the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceutical products and the strategic collaboration and license agreements with Hengrui Pharma. All statements that are not statements of historical facts are, or may be deemed to be, forward-looking statements. Such forward-looking statements are based on current expectations and projections about our future financial results, goals, plans and objectives and involve inherent risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including internal or external factors that could delay, divert or change any of them in the next several years, that are difficult to predict, may be beyond our control and could cause our actual future financial results, goals, plans and objectives to differ materially from those expressed in, or implied by, the statements. These risks, assumptions, uncertainties and other factors include, among others, that the expected benefits of, and opportunities related to, the agreement may not be realized by Bristol Myers Squibb or may take longer to realize than anticipated, that Bristol Myers Squibb may fail to discover and develop any commercially successful product candidates through the agreement, and that assets or product candidates may not achieve their primary study endpoints or receive regulatory approval for the indications described in this release in the currently anticipated timeline or at all and, if approved, whether such product candidate treatment or combination treatment for such indications described in this release will be commercially successful.
No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed. Forward-looking statements in this press release should be evaluated together with the many risks and uncertainties that affect Bristol Myers Squibb’s business and market, particularly those identified in the cautionary statement and risk factors discussion in Bristol Myers Squibb’s Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2025, as updated by our subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements included in this document are made only as of the date of this document and except as otherwise required by applicable law, Bristol Myers Squibb undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events, changed circumstances or otherwise.
About Hengrui Pharma: Innovation to Benefit Patients Worldwide
Hengrui Pharma is an innovative, global pharmaceutical company dedicated to the research, development and commercialization of high-quality medicines to address unmet clinical needs. Its therapeutic areas of focus include oncology, metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, immunological and respiratory diseases, and neuroscience. Driven by a patient-focused philosophy since its founding in 1970, Hengrui Pharma remains committed to advancing human health by striving to conquer diseases, improve health, and extend lives through the power of science and technology. For more information, visit us at Hengrui.com and follow us on LinkedIn.
Hengrui Pharma Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains statements that reflect Hengrui Pharma’s beliefs or expectations about the future or future events as of the respective dates indicated therein (“forward-looking statements”). These forward-looking statements are based on a number of assumptions about Hengrui Pharma’s operations, its future development plans, market (financial and otherwise) conditions and growth prospects, and are subject to significant risks, uncertainties and other factors beyond Hengrui Pharma’s control, and accordingly, actual results may differ materially from those contemplated by these forward-looking statements. No reliance should be placed on such statements, which reflect the view of the management of Hengrui Pharma as at the date of this press release. Hengrui Pharma does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements for events/or circumstances that occur subsequent to such dates.
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