Chinese licensing keeps setting the price of entry into obesity

Drug industry deal trackers say 2026 is on pace to be the busiest year yet for licensing agreements that bring Chinese-discovered obesity and diabetes drugs to Western drugmakers. AstraZeneca's obesity and diabetes collaboration with China's CSPC tops this year's list at up to $18.5 billion, including $1.2 billion paid up front, ahead of Bristol Myers Squibb's deal with Hengrui at up to $15.2 billion and Pfizer's agreement with Innovent at up to $10.5 billion ^[1].

The pattern is not limited to giant global licenses. On September 3, Italy's Menarini Group struck a smaller, region-only deal with China's Gan & Lee Pharmaceuticals for bofanglutide, also known as GZR18, a long-acting GLP-1 receptor agonist dosed once every two weeks ^[1]. Menarini paid 62 million euros up front for exclusive rights across 39 European markets, including the European Union, the UK, Switzerland and Norway, with up to 726 million euros more in milestone payments plus royalties on sales ^[1]. Gan & Lee keeps the rest of the world, including the United States, and continues to run the global Phase 3 program on its own ^[1]. A pivotal study has already finished in China, and a Phase 2 study wrapped up in the US, but the global Phase 3 program is still ongoing, with no disclosed finish date ^[1].

These deals are part of a wider wave. More than 100 licensing deals between Chinese biotech companies and US or European firms have been signed since the start of 2025, and the number of deals per quarter hit its peak in the first three months of 2026 ^[2]. During that peak quarter, large companies including AstraZeneca, AbbVie and Roche each paid upfront amounts of at least $550 million chasing new cancer and obesity drugs ^[2]. Deal trackers caution that headline totals like $18.5 billion for AstraZeneca-CSPC mix guaranteed cash with payments that only arrive if development and sales milestones are hit years from now; the actual upfront cash on that deal is $1.2 billion, a small fraction of the total figure ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

None of these agreements put a new drug in a US pharmacy any time soon. Bofanglutide, the closest of these assets to market, is still in a global Phase 3 program with no announced completion date, and its current deal only covers Europe, not the United States ^[1]. For American patients weighing Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, Zepbound or newer options like Foundayo, these licensing deals are a signal about the future competitive landscape, not a change in what is available now.

The dosing schedule for bofanglutide, once every two weeks instead of once a week, is notable because it could someday mean fewer injections for people on a chronic medication, but that potential benefit has not been proven at scale or reviewed by regulators ^[1]. It is not yet known when, or whether, this drug or others licensed this year will reach a US regulatory filing.

What these deals do reflect is how much money large drugmakers are willing to commit to secure a foothold in the obesity drug market, and how much of that value depends on Chinese-originated science reaching late-stage trials ^[1][2]. Whether that translates into more choices or lower prices for patients down the road is not something the sources reviewed can answer.

What happens next

Deal trackers show a steady, if slightly slower, pace of new licensing agreements moving into September 2026, following the record 20-deal quarter earlier in the year ^[1][2]. Gan & Lee's global Phase 3 program for bofanglutide continues, though no data readout or filing date has been disclosed ^[1]. Investors and reporters covering the sector expect the count of China-origin deals, now over 100 since 2025, to keep climbing as more companies look for late-stage assets outside the US and Europe ^[2].