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Zelluna

A biopharmaceutical company focused on developing T cell receptor (TCR)-guided natural killer (NK) cellular therapies for the treatment of solid tumors.

Headquarters and Global Presence

Zelluna is headquartered at the Oslo Cancer Cluster Innovation Park in Oslo, Norway. The company operates as a publicly listed group on Euronext Oslo Børs (ticker: ZLNA).

Founding and History

Zelluna’s operating business originated as Zelluna Immunotherapy AS (established 2016). In March 2025, Zelluna Immunotherapy combined with Ultimovacs ASA via a business combination that created the current listed company, Zelluna ASA, with a strategic focus on Zelluna Immunotherapy’s cell therapy platform.

Therapy Areas and Focus

Zelluna is focused on oncology, targeting solid tumors with allogeneic (off-the-shelf) cell therapies. The company’s pipeline strategy centers on tumor antigens with evidence of expression across multiple solid tumor types and with varying levels of clinical or preclinical validation.

Technology Platforms and Modalities

Zelluna develops T cell receptor-guided natural killer cell therapies (TCR-NK). The platform combines:

TCR-based antigen recognition to target intracellular tumor antigens presented on HLA
NK-cell effector function as the cell therapy chassis
A manufacturing approach positioned as scalable and repeatable across pipeline programs (the company describes it as a “plug-in” process)

Disclosed target set includes MAGE-A4 and PRAME (described as clinically proven TCR targets) and KKLC-1 (described as preclinically validated).

Key Personnel

Namir Hassan: Chief Executive Officer
Anders Holm: Chief Operating Officer and Head of Business Development
Luise Weigand: Chief Scientific Officer
Emilie Gauthy: Chief Technology Officer
Øivind Foss: Head of Clinical Operations
Julia Ino: Head of Project Management
Geir Christian Melen: Chief Financial Officer

Strategic Partnerships

Zelluna’s most material strategic step has been the 2025 business combination that created the listed group and consolidated focus on the TCR-NK platform. The company’s near-term execution model is centered on building clinical readiness (CMC, regulatory interactions, trial site strategy) rather than large disclosed pharma co-development partnerships.

FAQ Section

Zelluna develops allogeneic TCR-NK cell therapies for solid tumors. The platform uses engineered TCRs for tumor antigen specificity and NK cells as the effector cell type, with the intent of enabling an off-the-shelf product profile.

Zelluna is oncology-focused, prioritizing solid tumors where there is unmet need and where the company’s selected tumor antigens are expressed in clinically relevant patient subsets.

Lead program:

ZI-MA4-1 (also referenced as ZIMA-101): a MAGE-A4–targeting TCR-NK program planned for first-in-human evaluation in 2026

Pipeline targets disclosed by the company also include PRAME and KKLC-1 as additional antigen programs under the same platform framework.

Recent disclosed events include:

February 2026: promotion of Emilie Gauthy to Chief Technology Officer
December 2025: submission of a UK clinical trial application for ZI-MA4-1, alongside announcements covering first GMP batch completion and publication of preclinical data
October 2025: the company reported positive MHRA feedback supporting its UK clinical strategy for ZI-MA4-1

Zelluna has publicly highlighted preclinical data packages for its lead MAGE-A4 program and has framed these as supportive of moving into first-in-human testing. The company’s communications to date emphasize manufacturability milestones (GMP batch completion) alongside preclinical performance readouts.

Near-term milestones are execution-driven: progression of UK regulatory steps for ZI-MA4-1, site activation and trial initiation planning for 2026, and continued platform-to-program translation for additional antigen programs.

Zelluna’s positioning is that combining TCR specificity (to access intracellular antigens) with an NK-cell chassis and an off-the-shelf manufacturing strategy may address adoption and scalability constraints seen with autologous approaches, while targeting tumor antigen biology relevant to solid cancers.

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