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
The UAE’s Higher Colleges of Technology Celebrates Record Graduating Cohort of More Than 6,70010.11.2026 14:18:00 EET | Press release
Higher Colleges of Technology (HCT) – one of the largest applied higher education institutions in the region – has celebrated its biggest graduating cohort to date, with more than 6,700 graduates from the 2025-2026 academic year, with the graduating cohort some 43% larger than the previous year’s. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261110846231/en/ More than 12,000 people attended HCT’s biggest graduating cohort to date (Photo: AETOSWire) More than 12,000 people gathered at Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi for the ceremony, held under the theme “Strong Roots. Lasting Impact.”, in the presence of His Excellency Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Tolerance and Coexistence and founder of HCT. Also attending were His Excellency Dr Ahmad Belhoul Al Falasi, UAE Minister of Sports and Chancellor of HCT; Dr Faisal Alayyan, HCT President and CEO; senior government officials, institutional leaders, faculty, alum
Component Sense Celebrates 25 Years With Over 80 Million Electronic Components Saved From Landfill10.11.2026 14:00:00 EET | Press release
Component Sense, a global company specialising in the redistribution of excess and obsolete electronic components, has now saved over 80 million components from landfill. The milestone coincides with its 25th anniversary this November, which it is marking by planting 2,500 trees with One Tree Planted. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261110298637/en/ Kenny McGee, CEO and Founder, Component Sense The company redistributes excess components from Tier 1 original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and electronics manufacturing services (EMS) providers to a global network of buyers, helping manufacturers recoup value from inventory that would otherwise go to waste. Excess inventory is both a financial and an environmental burden for electronics manufacturers. With lead times still running long, shortages and surpluses exist side by side. Parts sit unused in one manufacturer’s warehouse, tying up capital, while another s
FDA Approves Promega OncoMate ® MSI Dx Analysis System as Companion Diagnostic for KEYTRUDA ® in MSI-High Solid Tumors10.11.2026 14:00:00 EET | Press release
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved the Promega OncoMate® MSI Dx Analysis System designed to identify patients with microsatellite high (MSI-H) solid tumors as a companion diagnostic designed for KEYTRUDA®, Merck’s (known as MSD outside the U.S. and Canada) anti-PD-1 therapy. OncoMate® MSI Dx Analysis System is a PCR-based assay designed to evaluate MSI status in solid tumor tissue. MSI status can be used to inform treatment decisions and support precision oncology strategies. “This approval reflects our dedication to providing meaningful diagnostic advances, developed to the highest quality and regulatory standards,” says Alok Sharma, Global Clinical Market Director at Promega. “Our test connects patients with the therapy most likely to help them, working alongside our pharmaceutical collaborators and the clinicians who use the result.” This approval was supported through a collaboration with Merck, which markets KEYTRUDA®. Together, the companies are working to a
Suzano Publishes First Report Aligned With Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures Recommendations10.11.2026 13:18:00 EET | Press release
Suzano, the world’s largest pulp producer, has published its first report aligned with the recommendations of the Taskforce on Nature-related Financial Disclosures (TNFD). The TNFD reporting framework helps organizations identify and assess how their dependencies and impacts may generate nature and biodiversity related risks and opportunities, and to disclose how they are integrated into the company’s governance, strategy, and corporate management. Initially focused on Suzano’s direct Brazilian operations, the report establishes methodological foundations, strengthens internal capabilities, and creates a pathway for the gradual expansion of nature-related assessments and disclosures over the coming years. The report also reinforces Suzano’s Nature Strategy, launched in November 2025. As part of its ongoing commitment to stronger management and greater transparency regarding ecosystem-related issues, Suzano has refined its methodology for identifying ‘Sensitive Locations’ by combining p
Robbyant Releases LingBot-Touch to Bring General-Purpose Touch Perception to Robots10.11.2026 11:23:00 EET | Press release
Robbyant, an embodied AI company within Ant Group, today announced the open-source release of LingBot-Touch, a tactile foundation model that gives robots a critical missing sense by enabling robust touch perception. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261109284905/en/ LingBot-Touch encodes magnetic tactile, visual tactile, and piezoresistive signals into unified tactile tokens for use by different action models. Pre-trained on nearly 5,000 hours of real-world tactile data, the model covers three mainstream sensing modalities—magnetic tactile, visual tactile, and piezoresistive sensing—and translates their diverse signals into a unified tactile representation. This allows different dexterous hands and action models to share and reuse tactile understanding, enabling robots to not only “see clearer” and “think deeper,” but also “feel sharper” during fine manipulation tasks, such as turning pages, unscrewing bottle ca
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