Hengrui, BeyondSpring In Arbitration Face-Off After Cancer Deal Setbacks

A Chinese court decision sheds light on how Chinese major Hengrui Medicine is seeking to reduce or avoid potential losses worth up to $27m following regulatory setbacks with the tubulin inhibitor plinabulin, in-licensed from BeyondSpring in 2021.

Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co., Ltd. is apparently going all-in to salvage a CNY200m ($27m) upfront payment it made to Dalian Wanchunbulin Pharmaceuticals, a China-based subsidiary of BeyondSpring Inc., in a licensing deal for an oncology product sealed in 2021.

Earlier this year, the two companies went to arbitration at the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), according...