China's Mabwell Bioscience has entered an exclusive global licensing agreement with US firm Kalexo Bio for pre-clinical dual-target siRNA candidate 2MW7141 targeting dyslipidaemia and cardiovascular risk reduction in a deal worth up to USD 1 billion including USD 12 million upfront and double-digit equity stake in Kalexo's Series A round. The novel siRNA simultaneously inhibits two lipid metabolism targets using non-lipid nanoparticle delivery system, and has demonstrated strong and durable target gene suppression with low off-target risk in preclinical studies.

Kalexo Bio was established by incubator AditumBio and founded by former Novartis executives Joe Jimenez and Mark Fishman to accelerate early-stage drug development. The transaction reflects growing interest in cardiovascular siRNA therapeutics following Argo Bio's recent USD 5.36 billion collaboration with Novartis. Mabwell's platform combines AI with high-throughput screening, enabling candidate identification within months while showcasing improved R&D efficiency for multi-target nucleic acid therapies.

PharmCube's NextBiopharm® shows that this is already the second China-US deal after last week's reports of upcoming stricter reviews of US companies' acquisitions of Chinese drug assets. Click here to request a free trial for NextBiopharm®.