AstraZeneca and CSPC Pharma Expand Partnership with $1.77 Billion siRNA Deal for Kidney Diseases
核心洞察
AstraZeneca and China's CSPC Pharmaceutical Group (搜索) have entered a new collaboration worth up to $1.77 billion to develop siRNA therapies targeting multiple renal diseases.
The deal includes a $30 million upfront payment, with CSPC eligible for up to $540 million in development milestones and $1.2 billion in sales-related milestones plus tiered royalties.
The partnership will leverage CSPC's proprietary AI-powered molecular design platform and extrahepatic targeted delivery technology to discover preclinical siRNA candidates against two undisclosed targets.
AstraZeneca has further deepened its ties with China's CSPC Pharmaceutical Group (搜索) through a new collaboration aimed at developing small interfering RNA (siRNA) therapies for kidney diseases, in a deal valued at up to $1.77 billion. The agreement, disclosed by the Hong Kong-listed CSPC in a stock exchange filing, extends a rapidly expanding partnership between the two companies that has now spanned multiple therapeutic areas and technology platforms.
Under the terms of the collaboration, option, and license agreement, AstraZeneca will work with CSPC to discover and develop preclinical siRNA candidates against two undisclosed targets. The alliance will deploy CSPC's proprietary siRNA drug discovery platform and extrahepatic targeted delivery technology, which combines artificial intelligence-enabled molecular design with automated high-throughput screening to identify nucleic acid drug molecules with high activity and enhanced extrahepatic targeting potential.
AstraZeneca will make an initial payment of $30 million to CSPC. The Chinese drugmaker is also eligible to receive up to $540 million in development milestone payments and up to $1.2 billion in sales-related milestones, in addition to tiered single-digit royalties on annual net sales of any commercialized products. For each program, AstraZeneca will hold an option to obtain exclusive rights to develop, manufacture, and commercialize the candidate worldwide or outside China, while CSPC will retain development, manufacturing, and commercialization rights in China for one of the candidates.
A Growing Strategic Alliance
This latest agreement comes just months after AstraZeneca paid $1.2 billion upfront to access CSPC's LiquidGel sustained-release delivery technology for monthly dosing of medicines and an AI-powered peptide drug discovery program. That earlier, strategic-level deal carries potential milestones of $17.2 billion spread across eight projects targeting obesity, weight-related conditions, and diabetes, and represented the third collaboration between the two firms.
Last year, AstraZeneca entered into a $5.2 billion partnership with CSPC to use its AI platform to discover new medicines across a broad range of therapeutic categories, and separately licensed a small-molecule lipoprotein(a)-targeted drug candidate for cardiovascular diseases in a deal valued at up to $2.2 billion. The companies have also announced an obesity and type 2 diabetes peptide deal worth up to $1.85 billion.
Renal Disease: A Strategic Priority
Renal diseases represent a key therapeutic category for AstraZeneca, which markets oral SGLT2 inhibitor Forxiga/Farxiga (dapagliflozin) for chronic kidney disease (搜索) (CKD) and Ultomiris (ravulizumab) for the rare renal disorder immunoglobulin A nephropathy (搜索) (IgAN). The company's pipeline also includes late-stage CKD candidates such as the aldosterone synthase inhibitor baxdrostat—recently approved as Baxfendy for uncontrolled hypertension—along with mineralocorticoid receptor modulator balcinrenone and endothelin-A antagonist zibotentan.
The siRNA approach pursued through the CSPC collaboration could offer a novel mechanism for addressing renal diseases by silencing disease-causing genes at the RNA level, potentially complementing AstraZeneca's existing portfolio of small molecule and biologic therapies in this space.
International Interest in China's RNA Therapeutics
The agreement also underscores growing international interest in China's emerging RNA therapeutics sector, as multinational pharmaceutical companies increasingly seek access to innovative assets developed by Chinese biotech firms. CSPC, headquartered in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, has positioned its siRNA platform as a key differentiator, integrating AI-driven molecular design with high-throughput screening capabilities to accelerate the discovery of candidates with extrahepatic targeting properties.