Ropes & Gray Advises Apollo Therapeutics on Exclusive Ex-China License for Clinical-Stage FGF21/GLP-1 Dual Receptor Agonist

In The News
November 12, 2024

Ropes & Gray advised Apollo Therapeutics in a licensing agreement with Sunshine Lake Pharma Co., Ltd., a member of China’s HEC Group, pursuant to which Apollo Therapeutics will receive exclusive ex-China rights to develop and commercialize HEC88473, a clinical-stage FGF21/GLP-1 dual receptor agonist developed by Sunshine Lake that has potential in multiple disease areas. The transaction was announced on Nov. 12.

Under the agreement, Sunshine Lake is to receive a $12 million upfront payment and up to $926 million in development, regulatory and commercial milestone payments, in addition to royalties.

Apollo Therapeutics is a UK- and U.S.-based portfolio biopharmaceutical company that has over 20 active therapeutic programs and is building a diversified portfolio of novel therapeutics with uncorrelated risk.

The Ropes & Gray team was led by life sciences partner Rajarshi Banerjee and life sciences associates Peter Chi and Ana Gomez-Palazzo, and included private equity partner Paul Armstrong, tax partners David Saltzman and Chris Agnoli, and litigation & enforcement partner Lisa Kaltenbrunner.