The license-in track is getting crowded, how can domestic pharmaceutical companies break through

License is a product introduction method that has emerged in the pharmaceutical field in recent years.
Depending on the direction of introduction, licenses can be divided into two types: License-in and License-out.
The former is the importer paying for the license from the authorizing party, and the latter is the authorizing party charging the importer to grant the license.
At present, the licensing and cooperative development of innovative drug projects between China and other countries around the world are becoming increasingly active.
And because License in can quickly integrate external collaboration or complementary resources, it can bring pharmaceutical companies a product line that meets the overall strategic plan as soon as possible, and it can quickly establish a group of innovative drug companies with License in as the main product, and the transaction activity has also begun to continue.
improve.

At present, China has become the world's second largest pharmaceutical market.
The growing patient population, a large number of unmet medical needs, new regulatory reforms and broadened market access have all promoted the demand for high-quality innovative drugs.
Faced with these demands, the license-in business model has gradually become popular in China and has gradually been recognized by the capital market.

Entering 2021, the license in mode of Chinese innovative drug companies has begun to continue to heat up.
For example, on February 18, Huadong Medicine signed a strategic cooperation agreement with the US clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company Provention Bio (Provention) on the bispecific antibody PRV-3279, and obtained two clinical indications of the product under development in Greater China, respectively It is an immunogenic therapy for systemic lupus erythematosus and the prevention or reduction of gene therapy.
According to the cooperation agreement, Huadong Medicine will pay Provention US$6 million in advance, US$11.
5 million in R&D and production support funds, as well as a milestone payment of no more than US$172 million and a double-digit net sales commission.

On February 17, Hausen Pharmaceuticals announced that it had signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Scinexis to obtain the rights to develop and commercialize ibrexafungerp in Greater China (including Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan).
Howson Pharmaceuticals will pay Scinexis USD 10 million in advance, as well as potential mileage and sales commissions.

 

In addition to the above cases, up to now, the scope of influence of the License-in model continues to expand.
In addition to industry elites, more and more investment institutions have also begun to take the initiative to "save the game", using capital, contacts, project resources and many other advantages to create a star combination of luxury teams + projects, taking advantage of the situation to promote valuations all the way up, and borrowing from Hong Kong stocks and Dongfeng IPO in capital markets such as the Science and Technology Innovation Board quickly.

 

From the above comprehensive point of view, the industry believes that in the past period of time, although the License in model has been controversial.
However, the BD capabilities and execution capabilities that many companies have developed so far are continuing to let the market see that strategies based on license in, First-in-China, and Only-in-China have great value.
At present, this model is gradually becoming a new path for Chinese companies to improve their level of innovation.

However, it is worth noting that as license in cases continue to be right, the license-in track has become increasingly crowded.
From the perspective of the distribution of diseases, the license in project in 2020 is the same as the situation in the past five years.
The oncology field has become a popular target for pharmaceutical companies to get together.
The endocrine, neuroscience and other fields have not changed in recent years; however, they are affected by the epidemic.
The impact of infections, which was not originally a hot field, has surged in recent years.
In addition, ophthalmology is also an area with increasing trading activity.

  With more and more entrants, the industry believes that the price of license in must rise, and there may even be a certain degree of valuation bubble.
Under this circumstance, after the relatively limited license in drug is listed on the market, there will be great uncertainty about whether the buyer can recover the cost and make a profit.
In this context, how companies can truly benefit patients clinically with their superior strategic vision, product selection capabilities, clinical advancement capabilities, and sales capabilities under the new situation will become the key to future development.