Novo Nordisk said it had agreed to license a potential rival to its weight-loss drug Ozempic from a Chinese company. The Danish pharma company said it would pay $200 million upfront and up to $1.8 billion in milestone payments to United Laboratories International for the rights to UBT251,

Novo Nordisk has signed an exclusive global licensing deal worth up to $2 billion for UBT251, a weight-loss drug developed by China-based The United Laboratories International Holdings Limited.

Novo Nordisk A/S agreed to pay United Laboratories International Holdings as much as $2 billion for a next-generation obesity drug, the Danish Ozempic maker’s latest move to refill its pipeline of experimental treatments.