// Case study
Zetagen Therapeutics
Public Relations
Zetagen Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing novel intratumoral treatments for cancer. Their lead drug, ZetaMet, demonstrated 100% complete resolution across all lesions in 24 consecutive treatments during a Phase 2A study — results that drew attention from major pharmaceutical companies. With over 75 patents including Composition of Matter on all three drugs in their pipeline, Zetagen achieved what most biotechs cannot: three drugs developed, a Phase II trial completed, and a regulatory pathway established — all with just $21 million in funding and a team of five over seven years.
Zetagen was at a critical value inflection point. Phase 2A data for ZetaMet had just been scored, two abstracts had been accepted to the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (SABCS), and the company needed to close a strategic partnership at the upcoming JPMorgan Healthcare Conference. Despite these milestones, their PR was self-managed and lacked the media relationships needed to place stories with key industry outlets. A previous vendor quote of $100,000 had been rejected as disproportionate to the scope.
Zetagen needed a partner who understood the biotech media landscape, could work within a realistic budget, and — most importantly — could help them convert scientific milestones into the kind of press coverage that moves the needle with strategic partners and investors.
Digital Elevator led the engagement with a strategy built around timing, sequencing, and maximizing the impact of each announcement.
Rather than releasing news of the funding close immediately, we advised Zetagen to hold the announcement and pair it with a coordinated media push. The Series B1 close, combined with their Phase 2A data, extensive IP portfolio, and human-proof efficacy data, presented a rare opportunity to generate widespread coverage across life sciences, business, and technology outlets. Releasing it without a strategic plan would have turned a major milestone into a single-day story.
Given the strength of the news, we recommended against granting an exclusive for the funding announcement. Instead, we developed a broad pitch strategy targeting multiple top-tier outlets simultaneously, ensuring maximum reach and reinforcing Zetagen’s credibility across the publications that strategic partners and investors actually read.
The engagement was structured around two high-profile industry events. For SABCS, we coordinated media outreach around Zetagen’s accepted abstracts and the compelling head-to-head comparison data against a major pharma competitor’s drug. For the JPMorgan Healthcare Conference, we focused on positioning Zetagen as a partnership-ready company with a validated clinical program and efficient capital deployment — key messages that resonate with the strategics and investors in attendance.
A critical piece of the strategy involved reframing Zetagen’s science for a broader audience. Intratumoral cancer treatments had a history of failure dating back to the 1950s, and overcoming that narrative was essential. We helped articulate why Zetagen’s approach — built on the identification of conserved nuclear receptors that allow consistent small-molecule activation across species — represented a genuine scientific breakthrough rather than a retread of failed approaches.
Over the course of the engagement, Digital Elevator secured 8 earned media placements for Zetagen across targeted industry and business publications, including one exclusive feature. The coverage spanned the Series B1 funding announcement, the SABCS conference abstracts, and Zetagen’s broader clinical story — generating the kind of credible, third-party validation that supports partnership discussions and investor confidence heading into JPMorgan.
Every case study started with a conversation. Tell us about your goals and we will show you what we can do.
3-day turnaround guaranteed. 100% money-back guarantee on every product.