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Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Enters into Clinical Collaboration and Supply Agreement with GlaxoSmithKline to Evaluate its Oral WEE1 Inhibitor, ZN-c3, in Combination with Niraparib, a PARP Inhibitor
ZN-c3 is currently being evaluated in patients with advanced solid tumors and ovarian cancer NEW YORK and SAN DIEGO, April 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --
About this update from Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
[{"type":"text","content":"ZN-c3 is currently being evaluated in patients with advanced solid tumors and ovarian cancer\nNEW YORK and SAN DIEGO, April 12, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics targeting fundamental biological pathways of cancers, today announced a clinical collaboration agreement with GlaxoSmithKline (“GSK”) in which Zentalis will evaluate the combination of ZN-c3, Zentalis’ oral WEE1 inhibitor product candidate, and ZEJULA (niraparib), GSK’s poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitor, in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. Zentalis is currently conducting clinical studies with ZN-c3 both as a monotherapy and in combination with certain standard of care therapies. “This clinical collaboration and supply agreement with GSK allows us to investigate the broader potential of our WEE1 inhibitor when used as part of a combination treatment with niraparib, a PARP inhibitor,” commented Dr. Anthony Sun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zentalis Pharmaceuticals. “As demonstrated in our preclinical studies, ZN-c3 is designed to have significant advantages over other investigational WEE1 inhibitor therapies. We believe this combination has the potential to meaningfully improve the outcomes for patients with ovarian cancer.” PARP inhibitors prevent DNA damage repair in cancer cells. Similar to PARP, WEE1 plays a role in cellular regulation and repair, allowing cells with DNA damage to repair and survive. Inhibition of WEE1 causes dysregulation of DNA replication and subsequently induces apoptosis. Based on these complementary mechanisms of action, the use of WEE1 and PARP inhibitors could potentially have synergistic anti-tumor activity. More than 300,000 women worldwide are diagnosed with ovarian cancer each year, leading to over 180,000 fatalities1. While substantial progress has been made in the treatment of this disease, there is an urgency to address the remaining unmet need through the development of innovative combination treatments. Under the terms of the non-exclusive collaboration, Zentalis is responsible for conducting the study with GSK providing all required doses of niraparib. Zentalis maintains full ownership of ZN-c3. 1www.cancerresearch.org About ZN-c3 ZN-c3 is an oral i...