It’s one step backward in order to take two steps forward at Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. In a restructuring to help fund the second part of its potentially registration-enabling Denali study, Zentalis has laid off 40% of its workforce. The clinical trial of azenosertib, Zentalis’ lead candidate and a WEE1 kinase inhibitor, is for treating advanced solid tumors and hematologic malignancies. The therapy is designed to make cancer cells self-destruct.
Researchers from Immunome Inc. and Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. presented preclinical data for IM-1021, a novel tyrosine kinase-like orphan receptor 1 (ROR1)-targeted antibody-drug conjugate with a new topoisomerase 1 (TOP1) linker payload, being developed for the treatment of solid tumors and B-cell malignancies.
The deaths of two cancer patients treated with the small molecule azenosertib has prompted the U.S. FDA to place a partial clinical hold on a phase I study and two phase II studies from Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. The deaths are presumed by Zentalis to be from sepsis. Both patients who died were in the phase II Denali study of platinum-resistant ovarian cancer.
Shares in Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. rose sharply after Pfizer Inc. invested $25 million and struck a deal to catalyze development of the company’s WEE1 inhibitor ZN-c3, an oral drug designed to make cancer cells self-destruct.
Recent news that The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center is teaming up with Schrödinger Inc. to work on the latter’s WEE1 inhibitor – along with data disclosed at the 2021 meeting of the European Society for Medical Oncology (ESMO) – shone a light on the gatekeeper checkpoint kinase, which a number of players are busy exploring, though nothing in the class has been approved so far.
Zentera Therapeutics Inc. completed a $75 million series B financing round to help further its candidates in China, as it paves the way for a listing in Hong Kong next year.
Zentera Therapeutics Inc. completed a $75 million series B financing round to help further its candidates in China, as it paves the way for a listing in Hong Kong next year.
HONG KONG – New York and San Diego-based Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Inc. has gained $20 million in a series A financing round to support a Chinese joint venture called Zentera Therapeutics.
The pandemic hasn't kept biotechs from going public. In fact, through the first five or so months of the year, the industry has raised more than $3.3 billion through IPOs, more capital than biotechs have raised during the first five months of any of the previous 20 years.
