CSPC Pharmaceutical Group Ltd.

Nearly a decade after spinning out its Chinese research hub to form Dizal Pharmaceutical, AstraZeneca is paying up to $1.5 billion to buy a piece of the pipeline, securing exclusive global rights for the biotech’s oral EGFR lung cancer drug Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib). The total deal value is split between $600 million in upfront payment, up to $400 million in development milestones and another $500 million tied to certain sales milestones, according to a disclosure (Chinese, PDF) to the Shanghai Stock Exchange. Dizal is also entitled to tiered, up to low-double-digit royalties based on Zegfrovy’s global sales. The deal comes about a month after Dizal detailed positive phase 3 data for Zegfrovy in first-line non-small cell lung cancer with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology annual meeting. In the global Wu-Kong28 trial, Zegfrovy significantly reduced the risk of disease progression or death by 35% compared with platinum-based chemotherapy. Dizal has filed for a label expansion with the U.S. FDA and China’s Center for Drug Evaluation. Zegfrovy got its initial, accelerated approval a year ago for previously treated NSCLC with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations. When presenting the Wu-Kong28 results, John Heymach, M.D., chair of thoracic/head and neck medical oncology at MD Anderson Cancer Center, said Zegfrovy offers “the advantage of a single oral agent administration” compared with Johnson & Johnson’s three-drug combination of injected Rybrevant and carboplatin and pemetrexed chemotherapy. Dizal had been hunting for a Zegfrovy partner ahead of the Wu-Kong28 readout, but potential suitors chose to wait for the data in light of Takeda’s high-profile failure with Exkivity in the same lung cancer setting, Dizal CEO Xiaolin Zhang, Ph.D., told Fierce Pharma on the sidelines of ASCO 2026. In a potential partner, Dizal was looking for a large company with global reach and experience in marketing targeted therapy, Zhang said at the time. AZ has both. The company’s Tagrisso for NSCLC with EGFR exon 19 and 21 abnormalities is the world’s best-selling EGFR inhibitor, with $7.25 billion in global sales in 2025. “AstraZeneca is a leader in treating EGFR-mutated lung cancer, and we are eager to add Zegfrovy to our world-class portfolio of innovative medicines for patients whose tumors carry exon 20 insertion mutations,” AZ’s oncology hematology business chief, Dave Fredrickson, said in a statement Tuesday. To beef up its EGFR portfolio, AZ also paid $25 million in April to opt in on a preclinical EGFR degrader as part of its collaboration with Pinetree Therapeutics. “As a leading global company with a strong lung cancer franchise, AstraZeneca will help ensure patients around the world can benefit from this innovation discovered by Dizal scientists in China,” Zhang said in a July 14 statement. The two companies go way back. AZ formed Dizal as a joint venture in 2017, transferring to the biotech the R&D capabilities of its Innovation Center China (ICC), along with three preclinical drugs in oncology, cardiometabolic and respiratory diseases. Zhang, an AZ veteran who headed up ICC at the time, became Dizal’s CEO. Even today, AZ is tied with a China state-owned fund in holding the largest stakes in Dizal at a 23.4% share. The British pharma has been on a dealmaking spree in China after committing $15 billion in its investment in the country through 2030 earlier this year. In two back-to-back transactions announced last week, AZ penned a potential $1.75 billion kidney disease pact with CSPC Pharmaceutical and obtained ex-China rights to Sino Biopharmaceutical’s late-phase challenger to Merck & Co.’s chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) drug Ohtuvayre in a potential $2.1 billion deal.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor is already approved in the US and China for a type of NSCLC. Credit: Mats Wiklund/Shutterstock.com. AstraZeneca has acquired the global rights to Dizal Pharmaceutical’s Zegfrovy (sunvozertinib), marking the drugmaker’s second venture to China in a month in search of new assets. As per the license agreement, AstraZeneca will pay an upfront fee of $600m, with a further $900m to follow if specific development, regulatory and sales-related milestones are met. AstraZeneca has acquired worldwide rights to develop and commercialise Zegfrovy, though Dizal will still receive tiered royalties on global sales. In licensing Zegfrovy, AstraZeneca has gained an asset already generating revenue. The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibitor is approved in the US and China for the treatment of adult patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with EGFR exon 20 insertion mutations, whose disease has progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. In 2025, Zegfrovy generated approximately $83.4m in revenue for Dizal, marking an 85% year-over-year increase. This is likely related to the drug gaining US accelerated approval in July 2025, increasing the drug’s market considerably. The drug was approved in China in August 2023. Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death among men and women, accounting for about one-fifth of all cancer deaths. NSCLC is by far the most common type of lung cancer. The high fee reflects Zegfrovy’s potential to enter the first-line setting. A supplemental New Drug Application (sNDA) for approval in this earlier treatment stage has been submitted to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and China’s Center for Drug Evaluation (CDE). The regulatory applications were based on positive results from Dizal’s global WU-KONG28 Phase III trial of Zegfrovy in first-line NSCLC with exon 20 insertion EGFR mutations. In March 2026, the Chinese biopharma revealed positive topline data and demonstrated that Zegfrovy improved progression-free survival (PFS) compared to platinum-based doublet chemotherapy. The results were presented as a Late-Breaking Abstract Oral Presentation at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting and simultaneously published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Currently, Johnson & Johnson’s (J&J’s) intravenously administered Rybrevant (amivantamab) in combination with chemo is the only front-line medication approved for this subset of NSCLC patients. Dave Fredrickson, executive vice president of AstraZeneca’s oncology haematology business unit, said: “AstraZeneca is a leader in treating EGFR-mutated lung cancer, and we are eager to add Zegfrovy to our world-class portfolio of innovative medicines for patients whose tumours carry exon 20 insertion mutations. With this agreement, we will bring a differentiated, oral targeted treatment to these patients with limited options across the globe.” Zegfrovy will join AstraZeneca’s large oncology portfolio that includes Tagrisso (osimertinib). Also approved for EGFR-mutated NSCLC, Tagrisso generated around $7.3bn in 2025, making it one of the highest selling cancer drugs in the world. The Dizal deal marks the second time in a month that AstraZeneca has ventured to China in search of expanding its drug portfolio. In June, the big pharma company signed a deal worth up to $5.2bn with CSPC Pharmaceuticals to research chronic disease drug candidates. AstraZeneca is one of many Western drugmakers to partner with Chinese biotechs in recent years. The country is now responsible for 20% of drugs in development globally, reflecting the powerhouse role the country has embraced in the pharmaceutical industry. Separately, AstraZeneca has also committed $15bn to expand R&D and manufacturing capabilities in China. Existing sites in Wuxi, Beijing, Qingdao and Taizhou will be expanded, while construction will start on new facilities across the country.

iStock, jozefmicic Dizal Pharmaceutical’s Zegfrovy is approved in the U.S. for locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. For $600 million upfront, AstraZeneca will gain global rights to advance and commercialize the asset. AstraZeneca is pledging up to $1.5 billion to link up with China’s Dizal Pharmaceutical, securing an exclusive worldwide license to the oral lung cancer drug Zegfrovy. This is the U.K. pharma’s third agreement inked with an Asian company this month. AstraZeneca is committing $600 million upfront and earmarking up to $900 million in development, regulatory and sales-related milestones, according to a Tuesday morning release . Dizal, based in Shanghai, will also be eligible to collect tiered royalties on global sales of Zegfrovy. The Tuesday announcement did not specify regional carve-outs for the Greater China area, a common stipulation in these China-facing deals from biopharma. The companies expect to close the transaction later this year. Zegfrovy is an orally available EGFR inhibitor that received accelerated FDA approval in July 2025 for patients with locally advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) who have progressed on or after platinum-based chemotherapy. Zegfrovy is also approved in China for the same indication. With the Dizal deal, AstraZeneca will gain exclusive global rights to develop and commercialize Zegfrovy. Currently, Dizal is awaiting regulatory decisions in both the U.S. and China that would push Zegfrovy to the frontline NSCLC setting. China AstraZeneca taps China’s CSPC again, betting up to $1.77B to target kidney diseases AstraZeneca and CSPC Pharmaceutical Group have already inked two other agreements this year, including an obesity-focused deal in January and one focused on chronic diseases in June. July 2, 2026 · 2 min read · Tristan Manalac Read more In Dizal’s Phase 3 WU-KONG28 study, first-line Zegfrovy significantly prolonged median progression-free survival (PFS), lowering the risk of disease progression or death by 35% versus chemotherapy. The objective response rate to Zegfrovy hit nearly 60% versus 31% in chemotherapy controls. These findings were published in May in the New England Journal of Medicine and simultaneously presented at this year’s meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology. The Dizal deal comes just weeks after AstraZeneca’s previous trip to China, during which it inked another agreement with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group for investigational siRNA medicines designed to treat kidney diseases. For this agreement, the pharma paid $30 million upfront and earmarked up to $540 million in development milestones and up to $1.2 billion in sales milestone payments. AstraZeneca signed another partnership with CSPC in January, paying $1.2 billion upfront for an early GLP-1/GIP asset for obesity, plus three preclinical weight loss assets and four other programs that will leverage the Chinese biotech’s AI engine. The pharma will be on the hook for up to $3.5 billion in R&D and $13.8 billion in sales-based milestones. Last week, AstraZeneca turned to Hong Kong–based Sino Biopharmaceutical, betting up to $1.9 billion overall for an investigational PDE3/PDE4 dual inhibitor for respiratory conditions. The asset is being tested for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in China.