Hengrui Pharma reports 88.9% rise in 2026 third-quarter profit on licensing deals

BEIJING, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals, China’s biggest drugmaker by ‌market value, reported on Tuesday a rise of 88.9% in profit for the third quarter of 2026, driven by income from out-licensing deals.

• Net profit of 2.5 billion yuan ($375 million) for the quarter ended September 30 was up from 1.3 billion a year ago

• The figure beat one analyst’s forecast of about 1.84 billion yuan in net income, LSEG data showed

• Third-quarter operating revenue rose 21% to 9 billion yuan

• Drugmakers in China are expanding licensing deals ​and developing new medicines as Beijing’s centralised bulk buying programmes squeeze their revenue.

• Global drugmakers are stepping up the search for China‑developed experimental medicines as they cut costs ahead of patent expiries.

• Hengrui sells both generic medicines and those it has developed itself such as Hodgkin lymphoma drug AiRuiKa.

• In August the company said it had completed 13 overseas business development deals since 2023.

• In September Hengrui said Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk would pay up to $2.6 billion for the rights to an experimental weight-loss pill.

• By the end of the first half of 2026, 10 of Hengrui’s innovative medicines were in Phase I clinical development.

• Hengrui reported the third quarter results after the market closed

• Shares are down about 23% so ⁠far ​this year, underperforming a fall of 2% in the ​Hang Seng Biotech Index

• In the first half of 2026, 17 of Hengrui’s clinical programs had advanced to Phase III, including its experimental psoriasis drug RSS0393 and breast cancer drug HRS-8080, its interim report showed

• Hengrui said innovative drug sales revenue growth improved in the third quarter, but it expected a gap to persist for the full year between growth and a target set at the start of the year

(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Beijing; Additional reporting by Beijing newsroom; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)