By Andrew Silver
SHANGHAI, June 30 (Reuters) – Eli Lilly has transferred the mainland China commercialization rights for its breast cancer drug Verzenios to Innovent Biologics, the Chinese drugmaker said Tuesday, as its U.S. partner grapples with generic competition in the world’s second-largest pharmaceutical market.
In a statement, Innovent said it entered into an agreement that grants it sole commercialization rights for Verzenios, which Lilly has also called Verzenio, in mainland China, adding that Lilly would continue manufacturing, supplying and developing the drug. Innovent’s statement did not mention financial terms.
Lilly did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on what would happen to the China sales team for Verzenio, a drug it began supplying in China in 2021, according to a post on its official WeChat account.
Lilly’s pullback in a country where more than 350,000 patients are diagnosed with breast cancer annually follows local approval of a generic version from a unit of China’s Qingfeng Pharmaceutical Group this year.
A spokesperson for Innovent did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on generic competition.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, Verzenio revenue outside the U.S. was $608 million, Lilly said in February.
Lilly has never disclosed official Chinese sales figures, said Tony Ren, head of Asia healthcare research at Macquarie Capital.
When a drug loses patent protection or exclusivity, many large pharmaceutical companies would try to offload it, Ren added.
(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai; Editing by Christian Schmollinger and Thomas Derpinghaus)
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