Merck & Co. Acquires Exclusive Global Rights to Hansoh Pharma’s HS-10535

• Merck has acquired exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialise HS-10535 from Hansoh Pharma.

• Hansoh Pharma will receive an upfront payment of $112 million and up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments.

Merck, operating as MSD outside the US and Canada, and Hansoh Pharma, a Chinese biopharmaceutical company, have entered into a global licensing agreement for HS-10535, an investigational preclinical oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist.

Under the terms of the agreement, Hansoh Pharma grants Merck exclusive global rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialise HS-10535. In return, Hansoh Pharma will receive $112 million upfront and is eligible for up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments, along with royalties on sales. Hansoh Pharma retains conditional rights to co-promote or commercialise the product in China.

Dr. Dean Y. Li, President of Merck Research Laboratories, stated: “Through this agreement, we aim to build on our experience targeting incretin biology to evaluate HS-10535 and its potential to provide additional cardiometabolic benefits beyond weight reduction.”

The agreement enhances Merck’s focus on cardiometabolic diseases and leverages its expertise in incretin biology. Meanwhile, Hansoh Pharma sees this collaboration as an opportunity to accelerate the development of HS-10535 for global markets. Ms. Eliza Sun, Executive Director of the Board at Hansoh Pharma, noted, “We are pleased to announce the in-license of our oral GLP-1 by Merck, a company with established leadership in cardiometabolic diseases.”