Shanghai Jeyou Pharmaceutical Technology Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as “Jeyou Pharmaceutical”) announced that it has entered into an exclusive licensing agreement with Roche and its subsidiary Genentech (hereinafter referred to as “Genentech”), under which Jeyou Pharmaceutical has granted Genentech an exclusive license for the global development and commercialization of JMKX002992, an oral androgen receptor (AR) degrader for which Jeyou Pharmaceutical holds the intellectual property rights.

Under the agreement, Genentech will obtain exclusive global development and commercialization rights for JMKX002992 and will bear all development and commercialization costs. In return, Genentech will pay Jeyou Pharma an upfront payment of $60 million and will pay corresponding development and commercialization milestone payments upon achieving the milestones specified in the agreement, with milestone payments totaling up to $590 million. In addition, Jeyou Pharma will receive tiered royalties based on the net sales of the collaborative product.

JMKX002992 is a novel oral androgen receptor (AR) degrader independently developed by Jeyou Pharma’s Small Molecule Innovation Institute. The androgen receptor is a recognized driver of prostate cancer, and JMKX002992 holds therapeutic potential for prostate cancer patients who have developed resistance to existing therapies.

A senior executive at Jeyou Pharma stated: “We are delighted to partner with Roche, a world-leading pharmaceutical company. We believe this collaboration will accelerate the development of JMKX002992 and benefit more patients. This marks our third successful case of taking innovative drugs to the global market, and we are thrilled to have achieved such results in the four years since the establishment of our Shanghai R&D center.”

“Prostate cancer is a major cause of death among men worldwide,” said James Sabry, Global Head of External Collaborations at Roche Pharmaceuticals. “Certain types of prostate cancer are particularly difficult to treat. The innovative oral AR degrader developed by Jeyou Pharma complements Roche’s work in developing innovative treatment options for advanced prostate cancer.”