Pfizer’s $6 Billion Bet on China-Made Combination Cancer Therapy
- Riya Subbaiah
- May 23
- 5 min read
Earlier this week, Pfizer (NYSE: PFE) announced plans to invest over $6 billion in a combinatorial cancer therapy. The company recently announced it will pay $1.25 billion upfront, and up to $6 billion in total, to license SSGJ-707, a China-originated early-stage cancer drug candidate that targets both PD-1 and VEGF pathways. The deal places Pfizer into a competitive race to dominate a critical frontier in oncology: dual-action combination therapies that activate the immune system and disrupt tumor blood supply.
It is an unexpected turn for the company. Many investors predicted Pfizer would strengthen their ties with Summit Therapeutics, a long-standing international pharmaceutical company, or lean on its existing partnership with BioNTech. Instead, stakeholders were surprised to see Pfizer follow the lead of rival Merck, which last year invested nearly $3.3 billion into a similar Chinese dual-action therapy, LM-299. Pfizer predicts that branching out into more international markets will enable them to gain access to differential therapies that can accelerate their pipeline to establish a forefront in selecting cancer-ending investments.
SSGJ-707 and a Dual-Pathway Promise: Science Meets Strategy
Combination therapies are attracting major pharmaceutical investment attention as a whole. There is confidence that these therapies can block both PD-1, a protein that cancers can hijack to “hide” from apoptotic destruction by the immune system, and VEGF, which helps tumors generate their life-sustaining blood supply. The combination of immune checkpoint inhibition and blood vessel growth suppression is promising in the cancer research space for its potential to treat a range of difficult cancers, including lung, kidney, and liver cancer, by increasing the chances of long-lasting remissions. If successful, SSGJ-707 could also become a cornerstone drug for cancers where monotherapies have stalled, particularly non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), renal cell carcinoma (RCC), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A dual inhibitor that is both powerful and tolerable to patients may dramatically change treatment outcomes for patient populations in need of more effective therapies and influence clinical trial design across the oncology landscape. From a business standpoint, the deal marks a novel shift towards risk-sharing via licensing rather than acquisition, which allows Pfizer to scale rapidly without undertaking full operational control.
“It’s become obvious that every multinational corporation wants a PD-1/VEGF on hand,” wrote Jefferies analyst Cui Cui in a recent note to clients.
When asked about their decision to pursue SSGJ-707, Pfizer cites the unique advantages this drug may have. While they have not disclosed the specifics of these benefits, they point to the early data on safety and immune response of the drug that they believe outweighs LM-299, which is further along in developmental progress and can be observed. The $1.25 billion dollar upfront payment signals a strong belief in the drug’s durability of response, reduced level of toxicity, or manufacturing stability, considering it has not yet reached advanced clinical trials. Pfizer is betting big that SSGJ-707 can outcompete and outperform existing options.
Risk-Reward Calculus: A Cultural Crossroads
However, a bold upfront investment of this scale comes with significant risks. These include regulatory hurdles, intellectual property (IP) risks, geopolitical tensions, and operational integration. The United States FDA places additional scrutiny on trials initiated in other countries, and approval is subject to regional trial designs aligning precisely with global safety standards. Confirming these criteria are met can be a time-consuming, tedious process, especially for newer early-stage combination cancer therapies. Once approved, there are cross-border licensing deals to consider, which can present complications around manufacturing rights and patent protections that also take years to settle in court. The current Trump administration is also placing increased surveillance on any U.S.-China scientific collaborations, which can also affect partnership and importation terms if retaliatory tariffs continue to climb. And finally, there is integrating these different moving parts — from manufacturing to marketing – across continents, which poses cultural and logistical complexity. Pfizer’s willingness to absorb these risks in exchange for a potential first advantage in this therapeutic class further shows its commitment that this combination drug may redefine global cancer care.
Conclusion: A Defining Move
Pfizer’s move reflects more than portfolio diversification. It signals a strategic reset for the company as it moves beyond its COVID-19 vaccine-driven identity. The pandemic-era left Pfizer with capital, but also the challenge to prove long-term research and development (R&D) credibility in the pharmaceutical world. By investing in SSGJ-707, Pfizer asserts itself as a leader in groundbreaking immuno-oncology. The company is also declaring a broader global R&D strategy that views early-stage international assets as opportunities to bypass saturation in the domestic market and engage with faster-moving pharmaceutical innovation pipelines. Pfizer aims to signal its intent as a visionary leader willing to break from legacy alliances. If Pfizer’s instincts prove correct, SSGJ-707 could shift the balance of power in oncology and redefine the benchmarks for early-stage investment success.
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