{"entity":{"id":"zeest-bio","kind":"company","name":"ZEeST Bio","aka":["ZEEST BIO INC"],"tldr":"ZEeST Bio is developing radioactive medicines that use the liver's own uptake biology to carry radiation into liver tumours, with the same agent used for scanning. Its lead programme is for hepatocellular carcinoma, the commonest primary liver cancer, and is in laboratory testing.","summary":"ZEeST Bio develops a theranostic radiopharmaceutical platform for liver cancers built on a clinically validated liver-targeting mechanism, designed so one agent serves both imaging and therapy. Its lead programme ZST-101 is in preclinical development for hepatocellular carcinoma, with extension planned to hepatoblastoma and fibrolamellar carcinoma. The founder and chief executive, Khashayar Vakili, is a hepatobiliary and liver transplant surgeon. In fiscal year 2026 NCI awarded it USD 398,040 under SBIR award 1R43CA310036-01A1 to develop a pre-targeting strategy for liver cancer radionuclide therapy.","asOf":"2026-11-04","links":[{"label":"Official website","url":"https://zeest.bio/"},{"label":"NIH RePORTER: SBIR award 1R43CA310036-01A1","url":"https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11405078"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["hcc"],"sections":["radiopharma"],"technologies":[],"targets":[],"drugs":["zst-101"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":["The cancer link is the company's stated lead indication; ZST-101 itself carries no cancer link because no trial or designation names it. Read on zeest.bio and NIH RePORTER on 4 November 2026."],"provenance":{"editedBy":"OnCo startup monitors","editedOn":"2026-11-04"},"hq":"Watertown, MA","country":"US","companyType":"radiopharma","website":"https://zeest.bio/","stage":"startup","investors":[],"funding":[{"round":"Grant","year":2026,"amountUsd":398040,"source":"https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11405078","note":"NCI SBIR award (R43) 1R43CA310036-01A1: Development of a Pre-Targeting Strategy for Liver Cancer Radionuclide Therapy"}]},"route":"/companies/zeest-bio/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"hcc","kind":"cancer","name":"Hepatocellular carcinoma","route":"/cancers/hcc/"}],"section":[{"id":"radiopharma","kind":"section","name":"Radiopharmaceuticals & Theranostics","route":"/fronts/radiopharma/"}],"drug":[{"id":"zst-101","kind":"drug","name":"ZST-101","route":"/drugs/zst-101/"}]}}