Story perspectives

Novo Nordisk Signs HRS-1596 Licensing Deal With Hengrui

By Drooid · Sep 30, 2026, 3:00 PM UTC · How we work

Summary

Novo Nordisk Licenses HRS-1596

Novo Nordisk signed a licensing deal with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals for HRS-1596.
$300 million upfront and up to $2.3 billion in milestones could total $2.6 billion.
Deal gives Novo development, manufacturing and commercial rights outside Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China.
Jiangsu Hengrui’s shares rose about 2 % in Hong Kong trading after the announcement.
Novo now captures over 80 % of new oral obesity prescriptions in the United States.

Summary

FDA Flags Wegovy Ads

Novo Nordisk markets Wegovy as a weight-loss product, referring to users as “customers” rather than patients.
FDA flagged Wegovy TV ads in February for misleading “live lighter” and “a way forward” claims.
Approximately half of Wegovy sales come from self-pay buyers who use telehealth platforms without insurer oversight.
A SELECT analysis linked only 31% of Wegovy’s cardiovascular benefit to known risk-factor changes, suggesting other mechanisms.

Summary

Semaglutide Dose Cuts CV

Semaglutide dose escalation reduced major cardiovascular events by 6% compared with tirzepatide.
The analysis examined insurance claims from 636,525 adults with type-2 diabetes initially on semaglutide 1 mg weekly.
In the baseline subgroup, the adjusted hazard ratio for MACE was 1.07 (95 % CI 1.01-1.13; P < 0.035).
By day 720, 36.9 % were on semaglutide 2 mg while 5.7 % switched to tirzepatide.
Neither semaglutide nor tirzepatide has a head-to-head cardiovascular outcomes trial.

History

Historical Context

In 1996 John Eng licensed the Gila-monster peptide exendin-4 to Amylin, which partnered with Eli Lilly in 2002 for $325 million and secured FDA approval of exenatide (Byetta) in 2005, proving GLP-1 receptors druggable. That success led Novo Nordisk to sign a 2024 licensing deal with Jiangsu Hengrui, prompting renewed regulatory scrutiny of GLP-1 obesity drugs.

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Novo Nordisk Licenses HRS-1596

Novo Nordisk signed a licensing deal with Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals for HRS-1596.
$300 million upfront and up to $2.3 billion in milestones could total $2.6 billion.
Deal gives Novo development, manufacturing and commercial rights outside Taiwan, Macau, Hong Kong and mainland China.
Jiangsu Hengrui’s shares rose about 2 % in Hong Kong trading after the announcement.
Novo now captures over 80 % of new oral obesity prescriptions in the United States.

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