Xellia and Hisun sign strategic global multiple-API partnership

Milan, Italy, 6 October 2026 – Xellia Pharmaceuticals (“Xellia”) and Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Hisun”) today announced the signing of a strategic Framework Agreement establishing a long-term, multi-product partnership covering the co-development, manufacturing and commercialization of a broader portfolio of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) worldwide.

The agreement was signed by Xellia CEO Michael Kocher and Hisun Chairman & CEO Kevin Xiao at CPHI Milan. It marks a significant expansion of more than two decades of collaboration. Through years of cooperation as Joint Venture partners since 2009, Xellia and Hisun have built strong mutual trust, complementary expertise and a shared commitment to the highest quality standards. The new agreement builds on that foundation, with the intention to add several new APIs spanning life-saving anti-infectives and new therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular and oncology.

“This partnership marks a defining step in Xellia’s growth journey. This includes investing in strategic capabilities within our own manufacturing footprint while building strong, trusted partnerships across our global network. For more than a century, last-resort antibiotics have been at the heart of our business. Now, we are building on that heritage and expertise to expand into new therapeutic areas – an important step towards our long-term ambition of becoming the leading global API supplier. By expanding our current portfolio, we can serve more patients with critical medicines across a wider range of therapeutic areas. Building on our long-standing relationship with Hisun, we are now taking our partnership to the next level. By combining our complementary strengths, we can accelerate our global growth and bring a broader and stronger API offering to customers around the world,” says Michael Kocher, CEO of Xellia Pharmaceuticals.

The signing represents a landmark portfolio expansion for Xellia, since this is the first time in Xellia’s history of more than 120 years, that it moves beyond its long-standing focus on anti-infectives and adding new therapeutic areas into their product portfolio. For Hisun, after the launch of its Globalization 2.0 corporate strategy in 2025, this strategic partnership marks a physical milestone as its approach to this ambition.

“Our long-standing joint venture with Xellia has demonstrated what our companies can achieve by combining complementary capabilities and a shared commitment to quality, accessibility and supply chain sustainability to patients worldwide. This expanded strategic partnership marks an important step of Hisun’s globalization 2.0 strategy. By bringing together Hisun’s development, technology and manufacturing capabilities with Xellia’s international commercial, regulatory and customer platform, we have an opportunity to bring a significantly broader portfolio of high-quality APIs to global markets.” says Kevin Xiao, Chairman&CEO of Hisun Pharmaceutical.

Combining complementary strengths to serve global markets

The partnership pairs Hisun’s established industrial foundation in API development, process scale-up and manufacturing with Xellia’s global commercial reach, research and development, regulatory capabilities, quality infrastructure and long-standing customer relationships. For selected API candidates and products under this partnership, Hisun will serve as strategic co-development and manufacturing partner, contributing with their expertise, technology platform and competitive manufacturing capabilities. Xellia will lead commercialization in markets outside China, while Hisun will lead commercialization within China. The two companies are also committing to end-to-end collaboration from API product development to global commercialization.

Products commercialized by Xellia will be integrated into Xellia’s global quality, regulatory and customer service platform, with release testing performed through Xellia’s European Quality Hub in Hungary.

Development activities for the first products are already underway, with the first APIs from the expanded collaboration expected to launch from 2028. The companies intend to progressively introduce additional products thereafter as part of the broader API portfolio expansion.

About Xellia Pharmaceuticals

Xellia Pharmaceuticals (“Xellia”) is a global leader in fermentation-based, non-beta-lactam anti-infectives, supplying active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and finished dosage forms (FDFs) to more than 500 pharmaceutical companies across 80 countries. Building on more than 120 years of manufacturing heritage, Xellia is now expanding its API platform beyond anti-infectives into new therapeutic areas, including cardiovascular and oncology, as part of its ambition to become the world’s leading API supplier. Headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, and wholly owned by Novo Holdings A/S, Xellia operates manufacturing sites in Copenhagen, Budapest and Taizhou, alongside R&D and commercial operations around the world.

Learn more at www.xellia.com

About Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (“Hisun”) was founded in 1956 and listed on the Shanghai Stock Exchange in 2000. After 70 years of development, Hisun Pharmaceutical has become a comprehensive pharmaceutical group with a full value chain of R&D, manufacturing, market & sales, and vertical integration of APIs and preparations. The company focuses on the development of multiple pharma business sectors such as chemical drugs, biological drugs, animal drugs, commercial and distribution, and at the same time, it is also accelerating its layout of emerging markets such as aesthetic medicines and other health-related sectors.

Media contacts

Xellia Pharmaceuticals

Birgitte Lund Henneberg

External Engagement & Public Affairs Director

birgitte.henneberg@xellia.com

+45 41 93 37 57

Zhejiang Hisun Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.

PR Department

pr@hisunpharm.com