AstraZeneca has entered into an exclusive license agreement with China-based Dizal Pharmaceutical for Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib), a novel oral irreversible epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor for patients with lung cancer.
Per the deal, AstraZeneca will acquire worldwide rights to develop and commercialize Zegfrovy. AstraZeneca will make an upfront payment to Dizal of $600 million and additional payments of up to $900 million upon achievement of specific milestones. Dizal will also receive tiered royalties on the global sales of Zegfrovy.
The once-daily tablets were granted accelerated approval in China in August 2023 and the U.S. in July 2025 for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) exon20ins — the third most common type of EGFR mutation in NSCLC.
Dizal recently announced positive results from the global WU-KONG28 phase 3 trial of Zegfrovy in 1st-line NSCLC with exon 20 insertion EGFR mutations. These data were presented as a late-breaking abstract oral presentation at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine.
Supported by these results, a supplemental new drug application for approval in the 1st-line setting has been submitted to the FDA and China’s Center for Drug Evaluation.
Dizal was formed in 2017 as a joint venture between AstraZeneca and the Chinese Future Industry Investment Fund, with the goal of bringing innovative new medicines to patients in China faster.