Zai Lab gains European orphan drug designation

• Zai Lab received European Orphan Drug Designation for its lung cancer antibody-drug conjugate, zocilurtatug pelitecan.
• Shares of the company closed up 3.87% at $17.73 following the regulatory decision.
• The designation addresses an aggressive tumor type that accounts for 375,000 new global cases annually.

Zai Lab (NASDAQ:ZLAB) has received European orphan drug designation for its antibody-drug conjugate targeting 375,000 annual lung cancer cases.

The European Medicines Agency reviewed preliminary clinical data from patients with extensive-stage small cell lung cancer.

This specific pulmonary carcinoma represents approximately 15% of the 2.5 million global lung cancer diagnoses made each year.

The candidate drug, known as zocilurtatug pelitecan, functions as a first-in-class antibody-drug conjugate that targets Delta-like ligand 3 proteins.

Regulatory authorities in the United States previously granted the therapy both fast track and orphan drug designations for similar indications.

Zai Lab plans to continue evaluating the treatment for both small cell lung cancer and extrapulmonary neuroendocrine carcinomas.