ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, focuses on discovering, acquiring, developing, and commercializing a portfolio of immuno-oncology therapies to treat patients with cancer.

The company develops Sleeping Beauty platform, which is based on the non-viral genetic engineering of immune cells using a transposon/transposase system to engineer T-cells outside of the body for infusion; and Controlled IL-12 to stimulate expression of interleukin 12 or IL-12, a master regular of the immune system, in a controlled manner to focus the patient's immune system to attack cancer cells.

Its product candidates include T cell receptor + T therapies to target solid tumors; chimeric antigen receptor + T cell therapies targeting CD19 for hematologic malignancies; and Ad-RTS-hIL-12 plus veledimex, a gene delivery system to regulate production of IL-12 to treat patients with recurrent glioblastoma multiforme in adults.

The company has a license agreement with PGEN Therapeutics, Inc.; research and development agreement with The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center; a patent license agreement with the National Cancer Institute; and a cooperative research and development agreement with the National Cancer Institute.

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc. is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts.