Zentalis Pharmaceuticals and Tavros Therapeutics Announce Strategic Platform Collaboration to Discover Next Generation Targeted Small Molecule Therapies

On May 28, 2020 Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ZNTL) and Tavros Therapeutics, Inc., reported a strategic collaboration to apply Tavros’ functional genomic discovery platform to develop next generation targeted small molecule drug candidates, initially to expand Zentalis’ oncology pipeline (Press release, Zentalis Pharmaceuticals, MAY 28, 2020, View Source [SID1234578258]).

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"We are pleased to be collaborating with Zentalis, as this aligns with Tavros’ goal to improve cancer therapy by uncovering unique and druggable vulnerabilities within tumors," remarked Tavros CEO and co-founder Eoin McDonnell on behalf of Tavros co-founders Kris Wood and Greg Mossinghoff. "The Tavros functional genomic discovery platform employs proven technologies and proprietary know-how to significantly increase clinical success, as well as to improve the tolerability and toxicity profile of a new drug."

Tavros’ strategic approach allows for an unbiased analysis of intricate cellular signaling pathways to discover novel targets, synthetic lethality pairs, mechanisms to overcome cancer resistance, and unique genetic signatures for clinical trials.

Zentalis CEO Anthony Sun commented, "Tavros and Zentalis share a common goal: to utilize proprietary technologies to discover and develop drugs that are safer, more efficacious and tolerable for patients than existing therapies. Leveraging the unique insights provided by Tavros’ technologies coupled with Zentalis’ strong medicinal chemistry expertise, we believe this relationship could yield multiple novel drug candidates and combinations that may have the potential to address unmet needs for cancer patients."

The transaction terms were structured to build and expand the Tavros discovery platform, with each company given the rights to any new products generated from the platform.