AstraZeneca licenses EGFR lung cancer drug Zegfrovy from spinoff Dizal for up to $1.5B

AstraZeneca has entered into an exclusive global license agreement with Shanghai-based biopharma firm Dizal Pharmaceutical to acquire worldwide rights to its EGFR-targeted lung cancer drug Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib), in a deal valued at up to $1.5 billion. The upfront payment is $600 million, with up to $900 million in potential milestone payments tied to development, regulatory approvals, and sales targets. Zegfrovy is an orally available EGFR exon 20 insertion inhibitor approved in the U.S. and China for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients who have progressed after platinum-based chemotherapy. The transaction is expected to close in the second half of 2026 and does not change AstraZeneca’s 2026 financial guidance. Dizal, a spinoff partly founded by AstraZeneca in 2017, will also receive tiered royalties on global sales of Zegfrovy.