Zai Lab has entered into a clinical research collaboration with Merck (MRK.US) for anti-cancer drugs.

On March 14, Zai Lab announced that it has entered into a clinical trial collaboration with Merck (MRK.US) to conduct a Phase 1/2 clinical trial globally for patients with locally advanced or metastatic solid tumors to evaluate the efficacy of Zai Lab's BC3195 (an antibody-drug conjugate targeting CDH3) in combination with Merck's PD-1 inhibitor KEYTRUDA (pembrolizumab). Under the terms of the agreement, Zai Lab will conduct a Phase 1/2 clinical trial to evaluate the safety and efficacy of BC3195 in combination with pembrolizumab. Zai Lab and Merck will retain all commercial rights to their respective compounds. The recruitment for the clinical study is expected to start in the fourth quarter of 2025. BC3195 is a new generation of Zai Lab's targeted CDH3 antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) that uses an antibody with high affinity to CDH3 protein and good internalization activity, combined with a clinically validated "bystander effect" linker and payload vc-MMAE to further improve the clinical development success rate and meet future clinical needs in different scenarios. According to Zai Lab's press release, BC3195 showed excellent tumor suppression activity in preclinical studies, with tumor growth inhibition rates greater than 100% in multiple tumor models.