Zenas inks license agreement with InnoCare for 3 autoimmune programs

8 October 2025

US immunology focused biotech Zenas BioPharma (Nasdaq: ZBIO) has entered into a license agreement with China’s InnoCare Pharma (HKEX: 09969) granting Zenas global development and commercialization rights to Phase III orelabrutinib for multiple sclerosis (MS) and across all therapeutic areas other than oncology.

Zenas, whose shares soared 13% in early trading, also secured rights to a novel, oral, interleukin (IL)-17AA/AF inhibitor, and an oral, brain-penetrant, TYK2 inhibitor, both of which are expected to enter Phase I clinical development in 2026.

Having filed for an initial public offering(IPO) last September, Zenas has been rapidly progressing obexelimab as a franchise molecule for autoimmune diseases with multiple near-term milestones, including top-line results from the Pivotal Phase III trial in IgG4-RD, the largest ever conducted in patients living with IgG4-RD to date, are expected around year-end.

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