On August 9, 2022 Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNTL), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing clinically differentiated small molecule therapeutics targeting fundamental biological pathways of cancers, reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2022 and highlighted recent corporate accomplishments (Press release, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, AUG 9, 2022, View Source [SID1234617919]).

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"We remain steadfast in our commitment to accelerate the clinical development of our lead candidates, ZN-c3 and ZN-d5, and we took many important steps this quarter – including continuing to strengthen our leadership team and cash position – to help reach this goal," commented Dr. Kimberly Blackwell, Chief Executive Officer of Zentalis. "To that end, we are excited to receive financial and strategic support from Pfizer, whose commitment will help us to realize the full potential of ZN-c3, a selective Wee1 inhibitor designed to induce synthetic lethality in cancer cells. We look forward to sharing updates on our ongoing and planned trials later this year."

Program Highlights:

The Company is focusing its resources on investigating the full potential of its lead clinical candidates ZN-c3, its Wee1 inhibitor, and ZN-d5, its BCL-2 inhibitor, as monotherapies and in combination across a wide range of cancers. Therefore, Zentalis will discontinue the clinical development of ZN-c5, its oral SERD, and ZN-e4, its EGFR inhibitor, following completion of its existing clinical trials, which are closed to accrual, in these two programs.
In April 2022, Zentalis presented five abstracts at the American Association of Cancer Research (AACR) (Free AACR Whitepaper) Annual Meeting and held a webcast event with Key Opinion Leader, Dr. Kathleen Moore, to further discuss the clinical and preclinical data presented at the conference, with additional details available here.
Corporate Highlights:

In April 2022, Zentalis sold 953,834 of its common shares at a price of $26.21 per share to Pfizer for gross proceeds of approximately $25.0 million. Zentalis and Pfizer plan to jointly advance the clinical development of ZN-c3. In addition, Dr. Adam Schayowitz, Vice President & Medicine Team Group Lead for Breast Cancer, Colorectal Cancer and Melanoma, Pfizer, joined Zentalis’ Scientific Advisory Board.
In May 2022, the Company closed an underwritten public offering of 10,330,000 shares of its common stock at a public offering price of $19.38 per share. The total gross proceeds were approximately $200.2 million.
In May 2022, the Company appointed Kimberly Blackwell, M.D., an oncology clinical development veteran, as Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Blackwell has been a member of Zentalis’ Board since 2020 and previously served as Chief Medical Officer of Tempus Labs. Before that, she held clinical development leadership roles at Eli Lilly and Company. Additionally, Board member Dave Johnson was appointed Chairman and Cam Gallagher, MBA, a cofounder of Zentalis, was promoted to President and will remain a Board member.
In July 2022, Zentalis announced the appointment of Andrea Paul, J.D., as General Counsel and Corporate Secretary.
Second Quarter 2022 Financial Results

Cash and Marketable Securities Position: As of June 30, 2022, Zentalis had cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $455.2 million. The Company believes that its existing cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of June 30, 2022 will be sufficient to fund its operating expenses and capital expenditure requirements into the first quarter of 2025.
Research and Development Expenses: Research and development expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2022 were $43.8 million, compared to $44.8 million for the three months ended June 30, 2021. The decrease was primarily due to licensing milestones and manufacturing expenditures incurred during the three months ended June 30, 2021, which did not recur during the comparable period in 2022.
General and Administrative Expenses: General and administrative expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2022 were $19.6 million, compared to $10.4 million during the three months ended June 30, 2021. The increase in expenses was primarily attributable to an increase in non-recurring, non-cash stock-based compensation and other cash compensation.