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AstraZeneca completes Dizal deal for lung cancer drug Zegfrovy
The deal gives AstraZeneca global control of a drug targeting a particularly aggressive form of lung cancer with significant unmet treatment needs
- By IPP Bureau
| September 02, 2026
AstraZeneca has completed its previously announced exclusive licensing deal with Dizal Pharmaceutical for Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib), securing worldwide rights to develop and commercialise the lung cancer treatment.
The oral, irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor is approved in the US and China for the second-line treatment of adults with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) carrying EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations.
The deal gives AstraZeneca global control of a drug targeting a particularly aggressive form of lung cancer with significant unmet treatment needs. Patients with EGFR exon 20 insertion-mutated NSCLC have a real-world five-year overall survival rate as low as 8%.
Zegfrovy is already available to patients in China in the second-line setting. AstraZeneca plans to launch the drug in the US in the fourth quarter of 2026 for the same indication.
The treatment is also included in the NCCN Clinical Practice Guidelines in Oncology for NSCLC, where it is recommended as a subsequent therapy option for patients with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutation-positive advanced or metastatic NSCLC.
AstraZeneca is now also advancing Zegfrovy into earlier-line treatment. The US Food and Drug Administration has accepted a supplemental New Drug Application seeking approval in the first-line setting, backed by positive results from the global WU-KONG28 Phase III trial.
The Phase III data were presented as a Late-Breaking Abstract Oral Presentation at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and published simultaneously in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Zegfrovy has also been submitted for first-line approval in China to the Center for Drug Evaluation. Both the US FDA and China’s CDE have granted the programme Breakthrough Therapy designation.
The completion of the licensing agreement marks AstraZeneca’s latest move to expand its lung cancer portfolio, while positioning Zegfrovy for potential use across both second- and first-line treatment settings.
