GSK/Ionis Bepirovirsen Achieves 19% Functional Cure in Hepatitis B

Pfizer locks in a deal with China's Innovent worth up to ten point five billion dollars — a dozen oncology programs and the sixth mega-licensing partnership out of China since last July.

ASCO opens today in Chicago, BMS wins Phase 3 for the Pomalyst successor, and Merck is calling a China-licensed cancer drug a cornerstone of its portfolio. Full slate.

Welcome to The Pharma Closeout for Friday, May twenty-ninth, twenty twenty-six. I'm Alex Mercer.

And I'm Maya Patel.

The lead. Pfizer and Innovent Biologics have entered a global strategic collaboration covering roughly twelve cancer programs, valued at up to ten point five billion dollars according to Endpoints News. BioPharma Dive frames the headline at ten billion — the gap likely captures the full milestone and royalty ceiling. Either way, this is a portfolio-scale bet, not a single-asset option.

And the upfront terms haven't been disclosed, which is the number that actually measures commitment. Ten point five billion in biobucks sounds enormous, but until we see cash-at-signing, we're looking at a ceiling, not a floor.

What makes this bigger than one deal — BioPharma Dive's tracking shows this is the sixth partnership involving China-originated drugs since last July that carries at least eight billion in total proceeds. Six at that threshold in under twelve months, including the BMS-Hengrui agreement at fifteen point two billion just weeks ago. This isn't a trend anymore. It's a procurement strategy.

And the timing is striking. The GOP chairman of the China panel publicly called out the BMS-Hengrui deal just last week per Endpoints. Pfizer walked straight into that same spotlight.

Let's bring in Marcus Webb on the deal logic.

And Pfizer isn't making this calculation alone. ASCO twenty twenty-six opens today in Chicago, running through June second, and Merck is presenting data for a cancer drug licensed from a China-based biotech — a therapy Merck says it has greater conviction was worth placing into a sprawling Phase 3 program. So Pfizer, BMS, and Merck — three of the largest oncology spenders on the planet — are all sourcing next-generation programs through China licensing. That's convergence, not coincidence.

Though I'd separate the legislative risk from the licensing reality. The Biosecure Act targets contract research and manufacturing organizations — supply chain nodes. These are intellectual property transfers. Conflating the two overstates the actual threat to asset flow. The pressure is real, but it's a different species of pressure.

Fair distinction. Though the conversation in Washington doesn't always respect that boundary, and perception can slow execution even when the legal framework stays clear.

Agreed on perception. And for Pfizer specifically, the overhang is heavier. The stock's already carrying weight from the paused COVID vaccine trial in April and the GLP-1 setbacks. They need an oncology narrative the market trusts. This Innovent deal is that narrative — and if it gets buried under Capitol Hill noise, even undeserved noise, it undercuts the one growth story investors haven't walked away from.

Shifting to the deals. Bristol Myers picked ASCO opening day to detail a Phase 3 win for mezigdomide — the CELMoD agent positioned as the direct successor to Pomalyst. Specific endpoints haven't been publicly disclosed yet, but the staging is deliberate. Endpoints recently profiled BMS at a crossroads in a make-or-break year. Mezigdomide is the centerpiece of their hematology franchise renewal as patent cliffs approach, and dropping this on day one of the biggest oncology meeting guarantees the audience BMS needs.

The CELMoD class has always carried the promise of deeper cereblon-mediated target degradation compared to the legacy IMiDs. Whether this translates into enough clinical separation in heavily pretreated myeloma to justify a premium launch position — that's what the full data package over the course of this meeting needs to establish.

On the opposite end of the spectrum — Agios ended development of tebapivat in low-risk MDS. Not paused. Ended. Subpar results per BioPharma Dive.

Pyruvate kinase activation made mechanistic sense in sickle cell, where the metabolic defect is primary and upstream. Extending it into MDS — a fundamentally clonal disorder — was always a harder biological argument to win. This narrows the Agios story to a single approved franchise.

Three more quick hits. Allogene CEO David Chang is stepping down after an eight-year run at the cell therapy maker — a leadership transition to watch in a space still searching for commercial traction. Dizal Pharma reported a first-line win in an EGFR-mutant lung cancer subtype, taking on J&J in territory AstraZeneca's Tagrisso still dominates — more entrants, tighter margins. And Replimune is asking the FDA for a third shot at its oncolytic virus melanoma drug, calling the latest agency discussions productive. Two prior rejections make that a high bar to clear.

On the regulatory front, an approval that did land today. FDA signed off on a pediatric expansion for MannKind's inhaled insulin Afrezza, covering adolescents and children with Type 1 or Type 2 diabetes. Afrezza has struggled commercially in adults — inhaled delivery never quite overcame payer and prescriber resistance. The pediatric label widens the addressable population, but only if payers treat it as clinically differentiated for younger patients rather than a convenience play carrying a premium.

Elsewhere this week, AstraZeneca secured a second bladder cancer indication for Imfinzi, gaining ground on Merck in that space. Tremfya and Venclyxto both picked up label expansions — steady incremental wins for J&J and AbbVie-Roche respectively. And all of this unfolds while the FDA navigates sustained leadership instability — BioPharma Dive asked outright this week whether a chaotic agency can still deliver on faster drug development.

Which brings us to the PDUFA reauthorization now sitting on the White House desk. Endpoints describes the next user fee agreement as stacked with U.S. manufacturing incentives. If the administration uses reauthorization to embed industrial policy — reshoring mandates, domestic production preferences — that reshapes the resource allocation calculus for every company planning a major submission through the back half of this decade. The fee structure isn't just funding. It's architecture.

What to watch. ASCO runs through June second. Merck, J&J, Eisai, Astellas, and Ascentage Pharma — which landed six abstracts including three rapid oral presentations — all have data on the floor. Given the China-licensing wave dominating deal flow right now, every readout from a China-originated program will carry strategic weight well beyond the clinical numbers themselves. We'll have the key takeaways on our Sunday edition.

And keep drug pricing on your radar heading into June. A report out today shows brand-name drug prices rise with product age in the U.S. but fall abroad — the exact inverse of every other major market. That gap is the foundation of the most-favored-nation pricing push, and per Benzinga the administration's executive order could target reductions of up to eighty percent on selected drugs. Anyone modeling a mature brand franchise with significant U.S. revenue should be stress-testing those pricing curves now, not after the executive order drops.

That is your Pharma Closeout for Friday. From Pfizer's ten point five billion dollar Innovent deal to BMS's mezigdomide win dropping on day one of ASCO, to the PDUFA reauthorization hitting the White House — no shortage of threads heading into the weekend. If this briefing saves you time, follow us on Spotify and drop a rating — it helps other pharma professionals find the show. We're back Sunday with the Weekend Edition.

Go enjoy the weekend, everyone. We'll see you Sunday. ### Episode Metadata **Title:** Pfizer's $10.5B Innovent Deal Extends China Licensing Wave; BMS Mezigdomide Phase 3 Win; ASCO 2026 Opens | May 29, 2026 **Description:** Pfizer and Innovent strike a deal worth up to $10.5B for 12 cancer programs — the sixth mega-licensing deal out of China since last July. BMS wins Phase 3 for Pomalyst successor mezigdomide at ASCO 2026. Merck, Agios, MannKind, and PDUFA reauthorization round out a packed Friday. **Tags:** Pfizer, Innovent Biologics, Bristol Myers Squibb, mezigdomide, Pomalyst, CELMoD, ASCO 2026, Merck, China licensing, Biosecure Act, oncology, Agios, tebapivat, MDS, MannKind, Afrezza, AstraZeneca, Imfinzi, Tremfya, Venclyxto, Dizal Pharma, EGFR, Replimune, melanoma, Allogene, PDUFA reauthorization, drug pricing, most-favored-nation, pharma, pharmaceutical, FDA, clinical trials, biotech, drug approvals #