New start-up in-licenses obesity assets from Hengrui

A well-financed US start-up has in-licensed three obesity drug candidates from Chinese drugmaker Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals (SHA: 600276).

The newly-created company, currently referred to as Hercules CM NewCo, has backing totalling $400 million from four investors, Bain Capital Life Sciences, RTW Investments, Atlas Venture and Lyra Capital.

As part of the licensing deal, Hengrui will be paid $110 million in upfront and near-term payments, as well as a roughly 20% equity stake, and up to $5.7 billion if the licensed drugs are approved and achieve specific cumulative sales targets.