AstraZeneca has committed to spending up to $1.5 billion to partner with Dizal Pharmaceutical of China for an exclusive, global license to the oral lung cancer drug Zegfrovy. This is the U.K. pharma’s third agreement inked with an Asian company this month.
According to a statement, AstraZeneca has invested $600 million in an upfront charge and has set aside up to $900 million to cover development and regulatory and sales-related milestones. Based in Shanghai, Dizal will also receive tiered royalties for any Zegfrovy sales around the world. The Greater China region was not mentioned in the Tuesday announcement, and it is common in these biopharma deals with China that there are regional carve-outs. The companies are hoping to close the deal later this year.
Zegfrovy has been granted accelerated FDA approval to treat patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have failed platinum-based chemotherapy or who have previously received platinum-based treatment. In addition to this, Zegfrovy is also approved for the same indication in China.
With the Dizal deal, AstraZeneca will gain exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize Zegfrovy. At present, Dizal is waiting for regulatory approvals in both the U.S. and China, which would move Zegfrovy to the frontline treatment of NSCLC.
In Dizal’s Phase 3 WU-KONG28 study, median progression-free survival (PFS) was significantly longer for Zegfrovy than for chemotherapy (35% lower risk of disease progression or death). Nearly 60% of the subjects responding to Zegfrovy were objective responders as compared with 31% in the chemotherapy controls.
The results were released in May in the New England Journal of Medicine and presented simultaneously at this year’s meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
The Dizal deal follows AstraZeneca’s last visit to China, when it signed up another partnership with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group for investigational siRNA drugs that could be used to treat kidney conditions. In this deal, the pharma has agreed to pay up to $30 million upfront and up to $540 million in development milestones and up to $1.2 billion in sales milestone payments.
In January, AstraZeneca paid $1.2 billion upfront to enter into another partnership with CSPC for an early GLP-1/GIP asset for obesity, along with three preclinical weight loss assets and four others that will benefit from CSPC’s AI engine. The pharma will have to pay up to $3.5 billion for research and development costs, and $13.8 billion for sales-based milestones.
Last week, AstraZeneca approached Sino Biopharmaceutical – whose head office is in Hong Kong – over an investigational PDE3/PDE4 dual inhibitor for respiratory diseases, paying a total of $1.9 billion. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) testing of the asset is being conducted in China.
AstraZeneca has strengthened its commitment to the Chinese biotechnology sector by signing a licensing agreement worth up to $1.5 billion for a lung cancer therapy developed by Dizal. The partnership reflects AstraZeneca’s continued strategy of expanding its oncology portfolio through collaborations with innovative biotech companies in China.
The transaction underscores the growing importance of China’s life sciences industry as a source of breakthrough therapies for global pharmaceutical companies.
AstraZeneca Expands Its Oncology Portfolio
The latest agreement enables AstraZeneca to gain rights to a promising investigational lung cancer therapy developed by Dizal. By adding the candidate to its pipeline, AstraZeneca aims to strengthen its portfolio of targeted cancer treatments while addressing unmet medical needs in lung cancer.
Following the licensing agreement, AstraZeneca is expected to continue advancing the lung cancer therapy through clinical development, regulatory review, and potential commercialization in global markets. The collaboration may also pave the way for future partnerships between AstraZeneca and Chinese biotechnology companies.
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