Zion Pharma Announces Global Agreement with Roche to Develop and Commercialize a Blood Brain Barrier Penetrant Oral HER2 Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor
Zion Pharma Limited, a Chinese biotechnology company focused on the development of brain-penetrable compounds, today announced that Roche has acquired the global rights to Zion’s lead program, ZN-A-1041. ZN-A-1041 is an orally administered selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting the Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2). ZN-A-1041 was designed to be blood-brain-barrier-penetrant, and has the potential to treat or prevent the onset of brain metastases in patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer. Up to 50% of patients with HER2-positive metastatic breast cancer will develop brain metastasis during the course of the disease.
"Our agreement with Roche is the culmination of a tremendous team effort to deliver a potentially best-in-class therapy for patients with HER2-positive breast cancer, particularly in the field of brain metastasis by virtue of the high blood-brain barrier permeability of this asset,” stated Zack Cheng, M.D., Ph.D., Chairman, CEO and Co-Founder of Zion Pharma Limited. “Within five years, we have gone from company formation to first-in-human, to finding a partner in Roche, who has the resources and expertise to bring ZN-A-1041 to patients with few other therapeutic options,” Dr. Cheng continued.
Dr. Ding Zhou, Ph.D., CSO and Co-Founder of Zion Pharma Limited added, “We are pleased that Roche recognizes the potential of our asset for advancing the standard of care with regards to brain penetrable compounds in HER2-positive breast cancer.”
“We are excited to enter this partnership with Zion to further develop this innovative treatment option for people with HER2-positive breast cancer. This partnership builds on Roche’s legacy and expertise in the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer and supports our pursuit of advancing science by combining external innovation with our in-house capabilities to address areas of high unmet patient needs,” said James Sabry, Global Head of Pharma Partnering.
After a transition period, Roche will be responsible for the further development, manufacturing, and commercialization of ZN-A-1041 globally. Zion will receive up to $70 million USD in upfront and near-term milestone payments pending achievement of certain milestone events. Zion will also be eligible for up to $610 million USD in additional payments following achievement of certain development, regulatory, and sales-based milestone events by ZN-A-1041, as well as tiered royalties on sales.
About ZN-A-1041
ZN-A-1041 is an orally administered selective tyrosine kinase inhibitor targeting the Human Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor 2 (HER2). ZN-A-1041 was designed to be blood-brain-barrier-penetrant. The ongoing Phase 1 trial is being conducted at multiple sites in the U.S. and China. Additional details will be presented at the poster sessions during the American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting in June 2023.
About Zion Pharma Limited
Zion Pharma is a private, clinical stage biotech company focused on the development of novel, small molecule, anti-tumoral agents. Founded in 2018, the company’s research headquarters are in Suzhou with additional research operations in Shanghai. The company is applying an innovative drug discovery approach, capitalizing on its DMPK expertise, to develop a pipeline of proprietary first-in-class/best-in-class compounds focused on therapeutic targets which drive tumor inhibition, including ataxia telangiectasia mutated (ATM), Kirsten RAt Sarcoma (KRAS G12D) and SMARCA2 (BRM). Additional information about Zion Pharma is available at www.zionpharma.com.
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230508005468/en/
Contact information
For media and partnership inquiries:
J. Michael French
SVP, Corporate Development
michael.french@zionpharma.com
+1.703.338.1972
About Business Wire
For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Ant International Wins Champion of NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection8.12.2025 05:37:00 EET | Press release
Ant International, a leading global digital payment, digitisation, and financial technology provider, has won first place at the NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251207210856/en/ Ant International’s solution takes top spot at the NeurIPS Competition of Fairness in AI Face Detection, emerging first among over 2,100 submissions from 162 teams globally. AI Fairness enhances Financial Security Studies by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) show that many commercial facial recognition algorithms have significantly higher error rates for women and people of colour largely due to underrepresentation in datasets AI algorithms are trained on. Biased algorithms lead to unfair denials of service and create security vulnerabilities. The competition at the Conference on Neural Information Processing Systems, among the world’s most prestigious AI con
Sonrotoclax Data at ASH 2025 Confirm Foundational Potential Across B-cell Malignancies8.12.2025 01:00:00 EET | Press release
BeOne Medicines Ltd. (Nasdaq: ONC; HKEX: 06160; SSE: 688235), a global oncology company, today announced new data on sonrotoclax, a next-generation investigational BCL2 inhibitor, demonstrating meaningful clinical benefit as monotherapy and in combination across B-cell malignancies. These data were featured at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting & Exposition in Orlando, Florida. The five presentations highlight durable responses in heavily pretreated patients with relapsed/refractory (R/R) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL) and additional studies showing deep, rapid, and sustained undetectable minimal residual disease (uMRD) rates with sonrotoclax-based combinations in patients with treatment-naive chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), highlighting the foundational potential of this medicine. “The data we’re presenting at ASH 2025 are redefining what physicians can expect from sonrotoclax as a next-generation BCL2 inhibitor,” said Amit Agarwal, M.D., Ph.D., Chief Medical
Hemato-Oncology Trials: AOP Health Presents New Results at Top Congress ASH7.12.2025 18:00:00 EET | Press release
AOP Health continues to advance its clinical research program in myeloproliferative neoplasms, a special group of rare blood cancers. The company, specialized in rare diseases, presented the results of two scientific investigations at the 67th American Society of Hematology Association (ASH) Annual Meeting 2025 held in Orlando, FL, USA. The results provide new insights in treatment strategies. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251207587915/en/ Dr. Martin Steinhart, CEO AOP Health; Photo credit: AOP Health/Studio Koekart ROP-ET and BESREMI PASS One of the clinical studies, ROP-ET, examined the use of ropeginterferon alfa-2b in people with essential thrombocythemia (ET), a disease in which the body produces too many platelets. The trial, a prospective, multicenter, single-arm phase III study, investigated the safety and efficacy of ropeginterferon alfa-2b in ET patients unable to receive available cytoreductive th
CoMotion GLOBAL 2025 Launches in Riyadh: Global Mobility Leaders Unite in Saudi Capital to Chart Urban Future7.12.2025 14:00:00 EET | Press release
Riyadh is rapidly becoming one of the world's most ambitious urban mobility laboratories, where next-generation technologies move from blueprint to real-world deployment on city streets at unprecedented scale. CoMotion GLOBAL 2025, the world's most influential gathering of urban mobility leaders, opens today in Riyadh for a three-day summit bringing together innovators from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Americas, and the Middle East. Running December 7-9, the event will explore how electrification, autonomy, AI-enabled transport, and giga-project urbanism are reshaping cities worldwide. The summit will spotlight everything from high-performance EVs and breakthrough autonomous fleets to emerging-market transport solutions and new mobility models, demonstrating how the Kingdom is opening new pathways for global mobility leadership. Strategic Partnerships Powering the Summit CoMotion GLOBAL 2025 is hosted by the Saudi Conventions & Exhibitions General Authority (SCEGA), supported by key Saudi
Deciphera Announces Oral Presentation of Positive Topline Results from Phase 2a Study of Sapablursen in Polycythemia Vera at the 67 th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting6.12.2025 16:30:00 EET | Press release
Deciphera Pharmaceuticals, a member of Ono Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Osaka, Japan; President and COO: Toichi Takino; “Ono”), today announced the oral presentation of positive results from the Phase 2a IMPRSSION study of sapablursen in patients with polycythemia vera (PV) at the 67th American Society of Hematology (ASH) Annual Meeting, taking place December 6-9, 2025, in Orlando, FL. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251206361611/en/ The results were presented by Ionis Pharmaceuticals, who discovered and developed sapablursen and conducted the IMPRSSION study. In March 2025, Ionis and Ono entered into a license agreement in which Ono obtained exclusive global rights for the development and commercialization of sapablursen. “In the treatment of PV, phlebotomy and cytoreductive therapy are performed as treatments for preventing thrombosis. Phlebotomy is the most common treatment for PV, in which blood
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom