AstraZeneca struck multiple, high-value agreements with China’s CSPC to bulk up its obesity and metabolic portfolio while accelerating in-country R&D and manufacturing. The companies committed an upfront payment and staged investments that include long-acting peptide assets and one-month dosing technology. CSPC will advance early clinical programs and AstraZeneca will take responsibility for later-stage development and global commercialization. The deal consolidates AstraZeneca’s strategic pivot into weight-management drugs amid intense competition from U.S. peers. Executives on both sides framed the transaction as a platform play—combining CSPC’s peptide design and long-acting technologies with AstraZeneca’s development, regulatory and commercialization muscle. The arrangement includes regional rights carve-outs and sizable milestone and sales-based payments.