Zion Pharma Announces Global Agreement with Roche to Develop and Commercialize a Blood Brain Barrier Penetrant Oral HER2 Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor
9.5.2023 09:00:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release
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
Flowdesk Europe Receives Payment Institution Authorization from the ACPR Under PSD215.10.2026 10:30:00 EEST | Press release
Flowdesk, a global liquidity provider and digital asset trading and infrastructure provider, today announced that its European entity, Flowdesk Europe, has been authorized as a Payment Institution by the French Prudential Supervision and Resolution Authority, l'Autorité de contrôle prudentiel et de résolution (ACPR), under the second Payment Services Directive (PSD2). The authorization allows Flowdesk Europe to provide custody and transfer services for e-money tokens (EMTs), the fiat-referenced stablecoins regulated under the Markets in Crypto-Assets (MiCA) regulation, to its clients across the European Union. The authorization follows the entity’s Crypto-Asset Service Provider (CASP) authorization received from the Autorité des Marchés Financiers (AMF) under MiCA at the end of June this year. With both authorizations in place, Flowdesk Europe can now support its EU clients across the trading, custody, and transfer of crypto-assets and EMTs, reflecting the firm’s long-standing commitme
Too Good To Go Expands Its Marketplace Beyond Food15.10.2026 10:30:00 EEST | Press release
Too Good To Go, the world's largest marketplace for surplus food, today announced that it is expanding its Marketplace beyond food, enabling retailers to redistribute surplus across personal care — including skincare, haircare, oral care and beauty products — pet care, flowers and plants, nutrition and supplements, and home, initially spanning cleaning and laundry products and décor. More than 8,500 stores already supply products across these areas, around one third of which were already working with Too Good To Go to redistribute surplus food. “In today’s society, we have built incredibly efficient processes for producing and selling things at scale, creating abundance, but we have not built the same efficiency into making sure what is left over gets used. As our lives have become more convenient, we have become less conscious of what those things are worth. We used to finish what was on the plate, find a use for what we had and instinctively pause before throwing something away. Too
From AI to Autonomous Networks: Mobileum Spark Highlights the Next Frontier of Telecom Intelligence15.10.2026 10:00:00 EEST | Press release
Mobileum Inc. ("Mobileum"), a leading global provider of telecom analytics and network solutions, brought together telecom operators and industry leaders during its Mobileum Spark events series in Lisbon (Portugal) and Frankfurt (Germany), to explore how Artificial Intelligence (AI), Agentic AI and automation are transforming network operations and accelerating the evolution toward autonomous networks. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261015172815/en/ Telecom operators, industry leaders, and Mobileum experts at Mobileum Spark 2026. Focused on Risk Management & Fraud Prevention and Network Testing & Assurance, the events featured customer-led discussions, expert insights, and real-world use cases demonstrating how AI and advanced automation are helping operators address increasing network complexity, strengthen fraud prevention, improve service assurance, and drive operational efficiency. A central theme across
Merz Therapeutics Announces Completion of Recruitment in Two Phase III Trials Investigating XEOMIN ® (incobotulinumtoxinA) for Migraine Prevention15.10.2026 09:00:00 EEST | Press release
Merz Therapeutics GmbH, a leading player in neurology-focused specialty pharma, today announced the completion of patient recruitment in two global Phase III clinical trials, MINT-E (NCT07018700) and MINT-C (NCT07018713), evaluating the efficacy and safety of XEOMIN® (incobotulinumtoxinA) for the prevention of episodic and chronic migraine in adults. The trials recruited approximately 1800 adults across 109 study sites in North America and Europe. Migraine affects around 1.1 billion people worldwide, posing a significant burden on patients, society and healthcare systems.1 Both trials are evaluating the change in monthly migraine days from baseline to Month 6 as the primary endpoint. Secondary endpoints include changes in monthly headache days, acute medication days and migraine frequency during two-week periods at the end of each injection cycle. “Achieving patient recruitment for both MINT-C and MINT-E six months ahead of plan is an important milestone for our XEOMIN® migraine preven
Tourism Malaysia and Alipay+ Partner to Accelerate Malaysia’s Digital Tourism Transformation15.10.2026 08:10:00 EEST | Press release
Tourism Malaysia and Alipay+, the unified wallet gateway of Ant International, today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to accelerate cross-border commerce and digitalise merchant engagement across Malaysia's tourism economy. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261014035900/en/ (From left) Mr Mohd Akbal Setia (Head of VM2026 Secretariat and Senior Director, Advertising & Digital Tourism); Mr Mohd Amirul Rizal Abdul Rahim (Director General, Tourism Malaysia); Mr Danny Chung (General Manager of Alipay+ Global Growth Center and Vice President of Ant International); Mr Michael Guo, Alipay+ General Manager of SEA, South Asia and ANZ, Ant International) As Malaysia welcomes visitors for Visit Malaysia 2026–2027 (VM2026–2027), this partnership merges Tourism Malaysia’s destination marketing with Alipay+’s global wallet ecosystem and AI capabilities. It aims to create a highly intelligent digital journey, connecti
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