Lilly Inks Deal with Innovent to Speed Up Early Drug Development

Eli Lilly & Co. is paying $350 million upfront to collaborate with Chinese biotech Innovent Biologics Inc. in developing new treatments for cancer and immune disorders, a further vote of confidence for the innovation capabilities of the country’s drugmakers.

Innovent could see up to $8.5 billion in milestone payments, the Suzhou-based company said in a press release Sunday. The firms didn’t specify the number of medicines included in the deal.

Innovent’s Hong Kong-listed shares jumped as much as 8.6% on Monday.

Multinational pharmaceutical companies have been actively licensing experimental drugs from Chinese drugmakers in recent years. The new ...