Novo licensed a Chinese weight-loss pill for $2.6 billion. What makes it unique?

The Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has agreed to pay up to $2.6 billion for the right to develop, manufacture, and sell an experimental anti-obesity drug in tablet form created by the Chinese company Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals. The upfront payment for the license will be $300 million, and Hengrui will also receive royalties from future sales. The drug is still in the early stages of clinical trials.

The agreement grants Novo the rights to the drug HRS-1596 outside of mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. The transaction is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2026.

HRS-1596 acts on GLP-1 and GIP receptors and is designed to be taken once a week. By comparison, weight-loss pills currently on the market—including Novo’s own drug—are taken once a day, Bloomberg noted. The drug has the potential to “raise the bar for convenience in this field,” said Martin Holst Lange, Novo’s executive vice president of research and development and chief scientific officer, as quoted in a company press release. So far, the drug has only been approved for Phase 1 clinical trials in China for weight management and diabetes treatment.

Novo is adding a new drug to its portfolio as part of an effort to restore investor confidence in its future following the success of two blockbuster products—Ozempic for people with diabetes and Wegovy for treating obesity, according to Bloomberg.

In September 2026, Novo’s management disappointed investors with the long-term strategy it presented. Shareholders were unimpressed by promises to bring more than five new blockbuster drugs to market by 2030 and generate over $23 billion in new sales in the coming years. Analysts pointed out a lack of specifics in the plans, and the goals themselves largely coincided with market expectations.

Novo pioneered the market for diabetes and weight-loss drugs, but has since ceded its leadership position to the American company Eli Lilly. Now, the number of competing drug candidates from China is growing rapidly: according to one estimate, more than 250 such drugs are being developed in the country, The Wall Street Journal reported, citing data from PharmCube. Many of them have already been acquired by major pharmaceutical companies. Novo itself licensed a development from United Laboratories last year, and AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, and Regeneron have also struck their own deals for Chinese-origin obesity drugs, Bloomberg noted.

In July 2025, Hengrui and its U.S. partner, Kailera Therapeutics, announced the successful completion of the final phase of trials for another obesity drug—HRS9531-301—with patients losing an average of up to 17.7% of their body weight over 48 weeks. The results were comparable to those of one of the market leaders—Eli Lilly’s Zepbound—in trials conducted in China, Bloomberg reported.

Hengrui went public in May 2025. Its shares are currently trading on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at a price 3.5% above the offering price.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor