Novo Nordisk to license experimental GLP-1 pill from China's Hengrui

Sept 29 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk will pay $300 million upfront to Jiangsu Hengrui Pharmaceuticals for the rights to an experimental GLP-1 pill, the Chinese drugmaker said on Tuesday.

The deal gains Novo a further potential revenue stream in the booming weight loss market, which analysts expect to generate annual sales of about $100 billion in the next decade.

Drugmakers including Novo and rival Eli Lilly believe weight-loss pills could ​attract patients reluctant to use injections. 

Hengrui's HRS-1596 is approved in China to initiate Phase-I clinical trials for weight management and type 2 diabetes.

Existing products include Novo's once-daily pill Wegovy and Eli Lilly's once-daily Foundayo, also belonging to ​the GLP-1 class of drugs that mimic a gut hormone to curb ​appetite and regulate blood sugar in patients with diabetes. 

The Novo deal also makes Hengrui eligible for development, regulatory and commercial-related milestone payments up to $2.3 billion, it told the Hong Kong stock exchange in a filing.

Novo will gain development, manufacturing and commercialisation rights to HRS-1596 outside of Taiwan, Macao, Hong Kong and mainland China.

In a statement Novo said HRS-1596 had potential for development as an oral drug administered once a week, which would "substantially reduce dosing frequency and improve convenience compared with current offerings."

A spokesperson for Novo told Reuters in an additional statement that it would plan global trials with the asset, but declined to provide timelines.

(Reporting by Andrew Silver in Shanghai, with additional reporting from Shivangi Lahiri in Bengaluru; Editing by Harikrishnan Nair and Clarence Fernandez)