AstraZeneca Strikes Multibillion-Dollar Obesity Deal With China's CSPC

By Adria Calatayud

AstraZeneca said it entered into a collaboration and licensing agreement with China's CSPC Pharmaceuticals to gain rights outside of China to a portfolio of experimental obesity and diabetes drugs, in a deal potentially valued at billions of dollars.

The U.K. pharmaceutical giant said Friday that CSPC would receive an upfront payment of $1.2 billion and be eligible to receive development and regulatory milestones of up to $3.5 billion plus further payments linked to commercialization and sales targets. CSPC separately said the potential sales milestone payments could be valued at up to $13.8 billion.

Drugmakers including Pfizer and Roche have turned to dealmaking in a bid to enter the fast-growing weight-loss drug market currently dominated by Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk. Pfizer last year prevailed in a bidding war with Novo Nordisk for obesity drug developer Metsera, while Roche struck a licensing deal with Denmark's Zealand Pharma and previously bought Carmot Therapeutics.

AstraZeneca and CSPC said their collaboration would initially focus on four programs, one of which is progressing into early-stage trials and three other experimental drugs that have yet to enter clinical studies. They will also collaborate on four additional programs that use CSPC's technology platforms, the companies said.

Under the deal, AstraZeneca will have the option to use a once-monthly dosing platform technology developed by CSPC, called LiquiGel, and to deploy it across its internal development efforts.

Write to Adria Calatayud at adria.calatayud@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 30, 2026 02:54 ET (07:54 GMT)