British drugs group AstraZeneca announced Friday a deal with the Chinese group CSPC Pharmaceutical to help develop and market CSPC's weight-loss injections.
The agreement hands AstraZeneca exclusive global rights outside China for the drugs, according to a joint statement. CSPC said it stood to earn billions of dollars dependent on sales.
Expensive appetite-suppressing drugs — which include the brands Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro — have exploded in popularity as people seek to lose weight.
Friday's deal came after AstraZeneca said Thursday that it would invest $15 billion in China through 2030 to expand the British company's medicines manufacturing and research.
Both deals were announced during a visit to China by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer.
AstraZeneca said the CSPC deal "strengthens its weight management portfolio through a new strategic collaboration… to advance the development of multiple next-generation therapies for obesity and type 2 diabetes across eight programmes".
CSPC will receive an upfront payment of $1.2 billion and could earn up to $3.5 billion more from development and regulatory milestones, the two companies said.
CSPC added in a separate statement that it could receive a further $13.8 billion for sales milestones.
CSPC chairman Cai Dong Chen called it a "win-win collaboration" that would deliver the next generation of weight-loss treatments with the help of artificial intelligence.
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