Milestone achievement in BMS collaboration: Biokin Pharmaceutical to receive $250 million payment

On October 12, Biokin Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (688506.SH) announced that the licensing collaboration between the company and Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has reached a milestone payment node. Combined with the previously received $800 million upfront payment, the company has now received a total of $1.05 billion in payments from BMS.

The announcement revealed that the global Phase II/III pivotal registration clinical trial, IZABRIGHT-Breast01, has achieved a milestone event, formally triggering the conditions for the first near-term contingent payment of $250 million under the collaboration agreement. Biokin Pharmaceutical's wholly-owned subsidiary, SystImmune, Inc. ("SystImmune"), will receive the payment in the near future (the actual amount received is subject to deduction of bank handling fees).

According to the collaboration agreement, Biokin Pharmaceutical remains eligible to receive up to an additional $250 million in near-term contingent payments, as well as up to $7.1 billion in further payments upon achieving specific development, registration, and sales milestones.

Since the beginning of this year, Biokin Pharmaceutical has announced multiple clinical research advancements regarding BL-B01D1 (iza-bren), a core pipeline asset developed in collaboration with BMS.

To date, iza-bren has received Breakthrough Therapy designations from both the Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE) of China's National Medical Products Administration and the U.S. FDA for different indications, which will accelerate the drug's development and regulatory review processes.

Currently, seven indications for iza-bren have been included in the Breakthrough Therapy list by the CDE, and one indication has been granted Breakthrough Therapy designation by the FDA. These indications cover multiple cancer types, including nasopharyngeal carcinoma, non-squamous non-small cell lung cancer, small-cell lung cancer, esophageal squamous cell carcinoma, and ovarian cancer.

As the global and Chinese clinical progress of iza-bren advances, the R&D funding required by Biokin Pharmaceutical has also increased significantly. According to the 2025 semi-annual report, the company invested 907 million CNY in its 15 R&D projects in the first half of this year alone, with the cumulative investment reaching 3.396 billion CNY. The total projected investment scale (sum of the cumulative investment up to the end of 2024 and the estimated R&D expenses for 2025) is expected to reach 4.353 billion CNY.

In September this year, Biokin Pharmaceutical announced the completion of an A-share private placement, raising a total of 3.764 billion RMB in this round. Combined with the milestone payments received by the company, R&D investments for the foreseeable future are substantially secured.