Zentalis Pharmaceuticals Announces Publication in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry Highlighting the Discovery of its WEE1 Inhibitor Candidate ZN-c3

NEW YORK and SAN DIEGO, Sept. 01, 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 the publication of the discovery of ZN-c3, the Company’s highly potent and selective WEE1 inhibitor candidate, in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.

The inhibition of WEE1, a key regulator of the cell cycle, is a clinically validated approach for cancer treatment. The paper reviews Zentalis’ objectives in designing ZN-c3 as a potentially safer and more selective WEE1 inhibitor, overcoming limitations seen with other WEE1 inhibitors. ZN-c3 is currently being evaluated in numerous trials as both a monotherapy and in combination, and the Company recently announced positive clinical results in June. In addition, Zentalis has identified potential accelerated approval paths for ZN-c3 in both uterine serous carcinoma and a biomarker-driven setting.

“For the past decade, WEE1 has been a target of interest in the oncology treatment landscape. While the WEE1 inhibitor class has demonstrated promising clinical benefits, poor kinase selectivity and tolerability issues have potentially limited the existing candidates’ effectiveness in patients,” commented Dr. Anthony Sun, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Zentalis. “The Zentalis team recognized the promise of inhibiting this DNA damage response protein and set out to create a differentiated candidate with a clean selectivity profile, improving tolerability and enabling a continuous dosing regimen for better efficacy. We believe our pioneering research and clinical results reported to date provide strong evidence that ZN-c3’s profile is best-in-class, and we look forward to exploring this candidate’s therapeutic potential across a broad range of solid tumors in ongoing and planned trials.”

To view the publication, please visit the “Supporting Publications” page on Zentalis’ website at www.zentalis.com.

About ZN-c3

ZN-c3 is a potentially first-in-class and best-in-class oral inhibitor of WEE1 in development for the treatment of advanced solid tumors. The inhibition of WEE1, a DNA damage response protein, aims to generate sufficient DNA damage in cancer cells, causing cell death, thereby preventing tumor growth and potentially causing tumor regression. ZN-c3 has broad potential as a monotherapy and in combination and we are currently evaluating this candidate in several ongoing and planned studies, including two potentially registrational monotherapy trials in USC and a biomarker-driven setting, as well as combination studies such as with chemotherapy in patients with advanced ovarian cancer. We also recently received orphan drug and rare pediatric disease designations by the FDA for pediatric osteosarcoma and expect to initiate a Phase 1/2 trial in combination with chemotherapy in 3Q 2021.

For more information regarding the ongoing trials, please visit www.clinicaltrials.gov.

About Zentalis Pharmaceuticals

Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing small molecule therapeutics targeting fundamental biological pathways of cancers. The Company is developing a broad pipeline of potentially best-in-class oncology candidates, all internally discovered, which include ZN-c3, a WEE1 inhibitor for advanced solid tumors, ZN-c5, an oral selective estrogen receptor degrader (SERD) for ER+/HER2- breast cancer, ZN-d5, a BCL-2 inhibitor for hematologic malignancies, and ZN-e4, an EGFR inhibitor for non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC). Zentalis has licensed ZN-c3, ZN-c5 and ZN-d5 to its majority-owned joint venture, Zentera Therapeutics, to develop and commercialize these candidates in China. Zentalis has operations in both New York and San Diego.

For more information, please visit www.zentalis.com. Follow Zentalis on Twitter at @ZentalisP and on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/zentalis-pharmaceuticals.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding our expectations surrounding the development, potential, safety, efficacy, and regulatory and clinical progress of our product candidates in the Unites States and globally, including without limitation ZN-c3, and plans and timing for the initiation of and the release of data from our clinical trials and our ability to meet other key milestones. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to the important factors discussed under the caption “Risk Factors” in our Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2021 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and our other filings with the SEC. Any such forward-looking statements represent management’s estimates as of the date of this press release. While we may elect to update such forward-looking statements at some point in the future, we disclaim any obligation to do so, even if subsequent events cause our views to change.

Investor Contact:
Gitanjali Jain Ogawa
Solebury Trout
gogawa@soleburytrout.com

Media Contact:
Julia Deutsch
Solebury Trout
jdeutsch@soleburytrout.com