Sandoz announces collaboration license agreement with Henlius

Sandoz (SDZNY) announced that it has signed a global collaboration agreement with Shanghai Henlius Biotech to commercialize a biosimilar of oncology therapy ipilimumab. The agreement is milestone-based for a total consideration of up to $301M, including an upfront payment of $31M, and will target net reference-medicine sales of $2.5B. Under the terms of the agreement, Sandoz has exclusive commercial rights for a biosimilar of ipilimumab in Australia, Canada, Europe, Japan and the US. The core sequence patent for ipilimumab expired in March 2025 in the U.S. and will expire no later than February 2026 in the EU. Richard Saynor, CEO of Sandoz, said: “The global burden of cancer continues to grow and the potential to address unmet patient needs has never been greater. This agreement offers us the chance to reach many more millions of patients, while helping to drive the long-term sustainability of healthcare systems.”