JACOBIO-B (01167) surged nearly 5%, reaching HK$7.77 by the time of writing, with a trading volume of HK$8.64 million.

The company announced on December 21 that it had entered into a collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca PLC for its self-developed Pan-KRAS inhibitor, JAB-23E73. Under the deal, JACOBIO-B will receive an upfront payment of $100 million, with potential milestone payments up to $1.915 billion based on development and commercialization progress, along with royalties from ex-China net sales. The upfront payment accounts for 5% of the total deal value.

During a media briefing on December 22, Chairman and CEO Wang Yinxiang stated that this business development (BD) transaction represents the largest out-licensing deal for a clinical-stage small-molecule oncology drug from China in recent years. Addressing concerns over whether the upfront payment was lower than expected, Wang clarified, "For small-molecule oncology drug deals, upfront payments typically range between 3%–8% of the total transaction value, which is reasonable. Payments exceeding 10% are considered substantial. Our deal’s 5% upfront falls within the upper-middle range."