AstraZeneca licenses Chinese lung cancer drug in $600mn upfront deal

AstraZeneca (AZN) has agreed to pay $600 million upfront to license a lung cancer treatment from China's Dizal Pharmaceutical (688192.SS), sending shares in the Shanghai-listed spinoff surging 20 percent.

The deal grants AstraZeneca global development and commercialization rights to Sunvozertinib, sold under the brand name Zegfrovy, which is approved in both the United States and China for adults with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer whose tumors carry a rare genetic mutation. Dizal, which was established in 2017 as an AstraZeneca spinoff, said first-line treatment for those patients currently relies largely on chemotherapy.

Dizal is also eligible to receive up to $900 million in additional milestone payments tied to clinical development, regulatory approvals, and sales performance.

Non-small cell lung cancer accounts for roughly 77 percent of all lung cancer cases, according to the American Cancer Society. A late-stage multinational clinical trial involving 324 patients found that those receiving Sunvozertinib achieved a median progression-free survival of 10.3 months, compared with 7.5 months for patients on chemotherapy, though overall survival data remained immature at the time of reporting.

"With this agreement, we will bring a differentiated, oral targeted treatment to these patients with limited options across the globe," said Dave Fredrickson, an executive vice president at AstraZeneca. A company spokesperson declined to comment on plans for further global clinical trials or whether it would seek regulatory approval in additional markets.

Sunvozertinib generated operating revenue of approximately 576 million yuan ($85 million) for Dizal in 2025, an increase of roughly 85 percent from the prior year, according to the company's annual report.