On December 18, 2023, HANSOH PHARMA (03692.HK) announced that on December 18, 2024, its wholly-owned subsidiary Shanghai HANSOH Biomedical Technology Co., Ltd. and Jiangsu HANSOH Pharmaceutical Group Co., Ltd. (collectively referred to as the Licensors) entered into a global exclusive licensing agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC (Merck).

According to the licensing agreement, the Licensors will grant the Licensee the global exclusive license to develop, manufacture and commercialize the preclinical oral small molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist HS-10535. The Licensors will receive a $0.112 billion upfront payment and will be eligible for up to $1.9 billion in milestone payments based on the product's development, registration approval, and commercialization progress, as well as royalties based on product sales. Under certain conditions of the licensing agreement, the Licensors may jointly promote or exclusively commercialize the product in mainland China, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, and the Macau Special Administrative Region.

The Licensee is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Merck Sharp & Dohme LLC (Merck), which is a research-intensive biomedical company dedicated to discovering and developing medicines, vaccines, and animal health products.

The Board of Directors believes that entering into this licensing agreement is in the overall best interest of the company and its Shareholders. The company will also take this opportunity to maximize the scientific and commercial value of the group's technology platform.