News Republic
On October 19, Jazz Pharmaceuticals and Zymeworks jointly announced that Jazz and Zymeworks BC, a subsidiary of Zymeworks, had reached an exclusive licensing agreement. According to the agreement, Jazz would obtain the exclusive development and commercialization rights of all indications of Zymeworks zanidamama in the United States, Europe, Japan and other regions, except for the Asia/Pacific region previously licensed. Previously, in November 2018, Baekje Divine Land obtained the exclusive authorization for the development and promotion of zanidamab (ZW25) in Asia (excluding Japan), Australia and New Zealand.
Zanidatamab is a kind of bispecific antibody targeting HER2 with a new mechanism of action. It has demonstrated remarkable anti-tumor activity in several cancers expressing HER2, whether single drug treatment or combined treatment with chemotherapy and other drugs. At present, zani datamab, as a second-line treatment drug for HER2 expressing cholangiocarcinoma and a first-line treatment drug for HER2 positive gastroesophageal adenocarcinoma, is in a critical experimental stage. According to the press release, there is no approved HER2 targeted therapy for biliary cancer at present. The FDA of the United States has granted zanidatmab breakthrough therapy recognition and fast track qualification, positioning it as a potential "first in class" therapy. In gastric and esophageal adenocarcinoma, based on the data of phase 2 clinical trials, zanidatmab combined chemotherapy is expected to become a potential "best in class" therapy.
The development of Zanidatamab is based on the Azymetric platform of Zymeworks. It can combine two non overlapping epitopes of HER2 at the same time, which is called double specificity combination. This innovative design has generated a variety of new mechanisms of action, including dual HER2 signal blocking, enhanced binding, and HER2 protein removal from the cell surface, as well as powerful effect functions, thus generating encouraging anti-tumor activity in patients.
Mr. Kenneth Galbraith, Chairman and CEO of Zymeworks, said that, "We are very happy to cooperate with Jazz, the world's leading biomedical company, who has brought a wealth of experience in oncology development and business, and shared our vision and passion to improve the treatment results of cancer patients worldwide. Zymeworks and Jazz are committed to promoting the development of zanidatmab as soon as possible, which may provide a basic HER2 targeted therapy for patients with refractory cancer with limited treatment options."