Hanmi Announces $190 Million Deal Payment for Experimental Weight-Loss Treatment
Updated 23 September 2026
What Is Happening
South Korean drugmaker Hanmi Pharm says it has licensed its experimental obesity treatment HM17321 to Genentech, part of Roche. Hanmi developed the medicine. Genentech receives rights to develop, manufacture and sell it worldwide except in South Korea.
Genentech will pay Hanmi $190 million initially for the rights. Additional payments depend on development, regulatory approval and sales conditions being met, potentially bringing the total to about $2.3 billion. Hanmi would also receive a percentage of future product sales.
The agreement divides the next stages of work: Hanmi will complete the initial human trial assessing safety and doses, then Genentech will take over further clinical development. Hanmi gains a partner to advance the treatment, while Genentech adds a medicine developed outside Roche to its obesity research.
Hanmi says HM17321 is designed to reduce weight while preserving lean tissue, including muscle, through an approach different from GLP-1 medicines. That is the intended benefit of a treatment still in early testing, not an established result in patients.
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