CD47/CD20 inhibitor therapeutic(Bristol Myers Squibb)

Over the past few years, the promise of blocking CD47 — a “don’t eat me” signal co-opted by cancer cells — has sent drugmakers big and small into a frenzy. But one biotech is now bowing out. Zai Lab is deprioritizing ZL-1201, its CD47 inhibitor, scrapping plans for a Phase II trial. It will now “pursue out-licensing opportunities,” the company said in its Q2 update . The decision was based on a review of the competitive landscape, it added, without going into further details. The move comes as the fever pitch appears to have died down, with clinical holds on Gilead’s frontrunning candidate from its Forty Seven buyout, magrolimab, throwing cold water on the field. Just weeks ago, AbbVie terminated an exploratory study of a CD47 drug it got from a $3 billion alliance with I-Mab, citing “strategic reasons.” It had tested lemzoparlimab as both monotherapy or in combo with other drugs as a multiple myeloma treatment. Like other later efforts, Zai Lab was familiar with the challenges of this space, especially on the safety side, going into the ZL-1201 program. As researchers wrote in an AACR abstract last year: ZL-1201 was thus “engineered to reduce Fc-mediated antibody effector function,” and they reported that it did bind to CD47 while having a better safety profile than the benchmark antibody. The company has a Phase I trial testing the drug in solid tumors, and it’s already decided on a recommended Phase II dose.