AstraZeneca (AZ) and CSPC Pharmaceuticals Group have entered into a partnership worth up to $5.3bn to develop therapies for chronic conditions.

The deal with China’s CSPC Pharmaceuticals, focused on AI-driven research, aims to advance the discovery and development of new drug candidates.

The drug licensing talks cover the development, production and sale of a targeted cancer therapy and other CSPC Pharma products, the statement said. The cancer treatment in question is an antibody-drug conjugate that targets the epidermal growth factor protein in tumor cells.