Zai Lab Limited announced that it will present findings from preclinical studies highlighting the therapeutic potential of ZL-1310, the company?s global next-generation antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) program. The preclinical profile of ZL-1310 will be the focus of a poster presentation at the European Lung Cancer Congress 2024 (ELCC 2024), scheduled for March 20-23, 2024 in Prague, Czech Republic. ZL-1310 is a novel and promising ADC within the Zai Lab global oncology R&D pipeline, targeting the Delta-like ligand 3 (DLL3), a validated therapeutic target in the treatment of small cell lung cancer (SCLC).

DLL3, which is expressed on the cell surface of most SCLC, plays a pivotal role in promoting SCLC cell proliferation, migration and invasion. Data from the preclinical IND-enabling studies which will be shared at ELCC 2024 indicate that ZL-1310 exhibits a strong and specific binding to DLL3 on the cell surface, leading to internalization, cell cycle arrest and the induction of apoptosis in tumor cells. In-vivo, ZL-1310 effectively suppressed the growth of established human tumors in a dose-dependent manner in both cancer cell-derived (CDX) and SCLC patient sample-derived (PDX) xenograft models.

ZL-1310 was discovered with MediLink Therapeutics? proprietary TMALIN® platform, a next-generation ADC platform designed to leverage the tumor microenvironment to overcome the challenges with current ADC drugs. Zai Lab entered a partnership and exclusive worldwide license agreement with MediLink in April 2023.

Subsequently, in January 2024, Zai Lab initiated a global Phase 1 study of ZL-1310 in patients with relapsed and refractory SCLC who have progressed after platinum-based treatment.