Bristol Myers Squibb and Hengrui Pharma have joined forces to develop 13 investigational therapies for the treatment of various cancers, as well as immune-mediated and blood-related diseases.
BMS has agreed to fork over $950 million, consisting of a $600 million upfront payment and a $175 million commitment to Hengrui, payable at the partnership’s first anniversary, according to a news release on Tuesday. The pharma has also pledged to make another contingent payment of $175 million at the deal’s second anniversary in 2028.
Adding in exercise option fees for certain assets, as well as potential development, regulatory and commercial milestones across all programs, the contract could reach an eye-watering $15.2 billion in value. BMS and Hengrui expect to close the agreement in the third quarter.
The partners will advance a total of 13 early-stage therapies. Hengrui will contribute four drug candidates for oncology and hematology indications, while BMS will provide four molecules for immune-mediated conditions. The remaining five programs will be “jointly discovered and developed” by the companies, the Tuesday release noted.
BMS will have exclusive worldwide rights over the four assets originally from Hengrui, except for mainland China, Hong Kong and Macau. Hengrui, meanwhile, will obtain exclusive rights to the BMS-originated assets within these three markets—collectively called the Hengrui territory—with the pharma retaining ownership globally. The Chinese collaborator will also have the option to co-develop and co-commercialize certain assets internationally, alongside BMS.
As per the terms of Tuesday’s agreement, Hengrui will additionally be entitled to tiered royalties on net sales of products outside the Hengrui territory.
Both BMS and Hengrui have been active dealmakers in recent months. In July 2025, for instance, the Shanghai-based compony scored a massive $12 billion contract with GSK. Like the current BMS arrangement, Hengrui’s partnership with GSK is broad, spanning 12 novel assets for respiratory, oncology and immunology diseases.
A few months later, in September, Hengrui licensed out a selective myosin blocker to Delaware-based startup Braveheart Bio, securing a $65 million upfront payment plus up to just over $1 billion in milestones.
For BMS, Monday’s Hengrui deal follows the April debut of Beeline Medicines, which the pharma conceived alongside Bain Capital. The investment firm gave Beeline $300 million in starting capital while BMS sweetened the pot with five assets for inflammatory and autoimmune conditions.
In December last year, BMS linked up with another Chinese firm, Harbour BioMed, to develop multi-specific antibody therapies for yet-undisclosed programs. The deal involved a $90 million upfront payment and up to $1.04 billion in milestones.
Other recent BMS deals include its $850 million bet on Janux Therapeutics’ tumor-activated therapy in January and the $1.5 billion takeover of RNA specialist Orbital Therapeutics in October 2025.