BeOne Medicines, its affiliated BeOne Care Foundation and The Max Foundation extended through 2028 a program that donates zanubrutinib to patients with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in low- and middle-income countries. The first three years reached more than 300 patients in three countries, and the renewal aims at roughly 1,000 cumulatively while adding a $1 million grant for the operating side of the program.
- Announced: August 18, 2026, from San Carlos, California and Seattle.
- Parties: BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Nasdaq: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), the BeOne Care Foundation and The Max Foundation.
- Reach to date: more than 300 patients with CLL in Armenia, Ethiopia and Nepal since the collaboration began in 2023, about 150 beyond the original scope.
- Renewal: donated BRUKINSA plus a $1 million grant over two years for patient care, physician engagement and operational infrastructure.
- Target: approximately 1,000 patients cumulatively by 2028.
Zambia and five others could follow Armenia, Ethiopia and Nepal
Armenia, Ethiopia and Nepal carried the program through its first phase and continue under the renewal. Expansion into Cote d'Ivoire, Malawi, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo and Zambia is described as contingent on operational readiness and shifting access priorities, which would bring the program into those countries for the first time. The Max Foundation supplies the delivery machinery, having spent 28 years running treatment access work that it says has reached more than 100,000 people with cancer and critical illness.
Pat Garcia-Gonzalez on what the first phase produced
The Max Foundation's co-founder and chief executive tied the numbers to physician partners in the three countries.
Working hand in hand with our partner physicians in Armenia, Ethiopia and Nepal we have been able to help hundreds of patients access treatment, enabling many of them to continue to support their families, spend time with loved ones and participate in their communities.
John V. Oyler, BeOne's co-founder, chairman and chief executive, said the goal from the start was "to ensure that where a person lives does not determine whether they can access high-quality cancer care."
"Strengthen the support systems patients need"
The $1 million from the BeOne Care Foundation is spread over two years and directed at patient care, physician engagement and operational infrastructure, the machinery that decides whether donated drug reaches a patient at all. Christine Riley Miller, who leads the foundation, put the reasoning this way:
By investing in partners like The Max Foundation, we can help expand access to transformational medicines and strengthen the support systems patients need to achieve the best possible outcomes.
The disease arithmetic behind the program
CLL accounts for about one third of new leukemia cases and an estimated 191,000 new diagnoses worldwide each year, on the two references the companies cite. BeOne says access to newer therapies remains constrained across much of that population. The company also states that BRUKINSA is approved in more than 80 markets and has been used in more than 300,000 patients, and that its clinical development program spans more than 8,000 patients across over 45 trials in 30 or more countries. None of those totals are broken out by country income level, so they say nothing about access in the three program countries.
Why This Matters to the APO|APE Reader
Patients enrolled in the program keep receiving zanubrutinib after 2028 for as long as it is medically needed, and because BTK inhibition in CLL is continuous, that turns a two-year grant into an open-ended supply obligation for BeOne. None of Cote d'Ivoire, Malawi, Mongolia, Mozambique, Togo or Zambia is committed yet, each conditional on operational readiness, which leaves six of the nine countries in the 2028 plan unconfirmed. The 1,000-patient target also sets a measurable bar for 2028, against 300 delivered in the first phase.
