WARRANT TO PURCHASE COMMON STOCK

NEITHER THESE SECURITIES NOR THE SECURITIES ISSUABLE UPON EXERCISE OF THESE SECURITIES HAVE BEEN REGISTERED WITH THE SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION OR THE SECURITIES COMMISSION OF ANY STATE IN RELIANCE UPON AN EXEMPTION FROM REGISTRATION UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OF 1933, AS AMENDED (THE “SECURITIES ACT”), AND, ACCORDINGLY, MAY NOT BE OFFERED OR SOLD EXCEPT PURSUANT TO AN EFFECTIVE REGISTRATION STATEMENT UNDER THE SECURITIES ACT OR PURSUANT TO AN AVAILABLE EXEMPTION FROM, OR IN A TRANSACTION NOT SUBJECT TO, THE REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS OF THE SECURITIES ACT AND IN ACCORDANCE WITH APPLICABLE STATE SECURITIES LAWS OR BLUE SKY LAWS AS EVIDENCED BY A LEGAL OPINION OF COUNSEL REASONABLY SATISFACTORY TO THE COMPANY.

ZIOPHARM Oncology, Inc., a Delaware corporation (the “ Company ”), hereby certifies that, for value received, [            ] or its permitted registered assigns (the “ Holder ”), is entitled to purchase from the Company up to a total of [            ] shares of common stock, $0.001 par value (the “ Common Stock ”), of the Company (each such share, a “ Warrant Share ” and all such shares, the “ Warrant Shares ”) at an exercise price per share equal to $2.04 (as adjusted from time to time as provided in Section 9 herein, the “ Exercise Price ”), at any time and from time to time from on or after the date hereof (the “ Trigger Date ”) and through and including 5:30 P.M., New York City time, on [                 ], 2014 (the “ Expiration Date ”), and subject to the following terms and conditions:

This Warrant (this “ Warrant ”) is being issued in connection with a private placement of common stock and warrants to purchase common stock pursuant to Securities Purchase Agreements dated September 9, 2009, by and among the Company and the Purchasers identified therein (the “ Purchase Agreements ”).  This Warrant (this “ Warrant ”) is one of a series of similar warrants issued pursuant to that certain Placement Agents’ engagement letter dated August 7, 2009, by and between the Company and Rodman and Renshaw, LLC (the “ Engagement Letter ”).  All such warrants are referred to herein, collectively, as the “ Warrants .”

1.            Definitions . In addition to the terms defined elsewhere in this Warrant, capitalized terms that are not otherwise defined herein have the meanings given to such terms in the Purchase Agreement.

2.            Registration of Warrants .  The Company shall register this Warrant, upon records to be maintained by the Company for that purpose (the “ Warrant Register ”), in the name of the record Holder (which shall include the initial Holder or, as the case may be, any registered assignee to which this Warrant is permissibly assigned hereunder) from time to time.  The Company may deem and treat the registered Holder of this Warrant as the absolute owner hereof for the purpose of any exercise hereof or any distribution to the Holder, and for all other purposes, absent actual notice to the contrary.

3.            Registration of Transfers . Subject to the restrictions on transfer set forth in Section 4.1 of the Purchase Agreement and compliance with all applicable securities laws, the Company shall register the transfer of all or any portion of this Warrant in the Warrant Register, upon (i) surrender of this Warrant, with the Form of Assignment attached as Schedule 2 hereto duly completed and signed, to the Company’s transfer agent or to the Company at its address specified herein and (ii) if the Registration Statement is not effective, (x) delivery, at the request of the Company, of an opinion of counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Company to the effect that the transfer of such portion of this Warrant may be made pursuant to an available exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and all applicable state securities or blue sky laws and (y) delivery by the transferee of a written statement to the Company certifying that the transferee is an “accredited investor” as defined in Rule 501(a) under the Securities Act and making the representations and certifications set forth in Section 3.2(b), (c) and (d) of the Purchase Agreement, to the Company at its address specified in the Purchase Agreement. Upon any such registration or transfer, a new warrant to purchase Common Stock in substantially the form of this Warrant (any such new warrant, a “ New Warrant ”) evidencing the portion of this Warrant so transferred shall be issued to the transferee, and a New Warrant evidencing the remaining portion of this Warrant not so transferred, if any, shall be issued to the transferring Holder. The acceptance of the New Warrant by the transferee thereof shall be deemed the acceptance by such transferee of all of the rights and obligations of a Holder of a Warrant.

(a)           All or any part of this Warrant shall be exercisable by the registered Holder at any time and from time to time on or after the Trigger Date and through and including 5:30 P.M. New York City time on the Expiration Date. At 5:30 P.M., New York City time, on the Expiration Date, the portion of this Warrant not exercised prior thereto shall be and become void and of no value and this Warrant shall be terminated and no longer outstanding;

(b)           The Holder may exercise this Warrant by delivering to the Company (i) an exercise notice, in the form attached as Schedule 1 hereto (the “ Exercise Notice ”), appropriately completed and duly signed, (ii) payment of the Exercise Price in immediately available funds for the number of Warrant Shares as to which this Warrant is being exercised, and the date such items are delivered to the Company (as determined in accordance with the notice provisions hereof) is an “ Exercise Date .” The delivery by (or on behalf of) the Holder of the Exercise Notice and the applicable Exercise Price as provided above shall constitute the Holder’s certification to the Company that its representations contained in Section 3.2(b), (c) and (d) of the Purchase Agreement are true and correct as of the Exercise Date as if remade in their entirety (or, in the case of any transferee Holder that is not a party to the Purchase Agreement, such transferee Holder’s certification to the Company that such representations are true and correct as to such assignee Holder as of the Exercise Date).  The Holder shall not be required to deliver the original Warrant in order to effect an exercise hereunder.  Execution and delivery of the Exercise Notice shall have the same effect as cancellation of the original Warrant and issuance of a New Warrant evidencing the right to purchase the remaining number of Warrant Shares.

(a)           Upon exercise of this Warrant, the Company shall promptly (but in no event later than three Trading Days after the Exercise Date) issue or cause to be issued and cause to be delivered to or upon the written order of the Holder and in such name or names as the Holder may designate (provided that, if the Registration Statement is not effective and the Holder directs the Company to deliver a certificate for the Warrant Shares in a name other than that of the Holder or an Affiliate of the Holder, it shall deliver to the Company on the Exercise Date an opinion of counsel reasonably satisfactory to the Company to the effect that the issuance of such Warrant Shares in such other name may be made pursuant to an available exemption from the registration requirements of the Securities Act and all applicable state securities or blue sky laws), a certificate for the Warrant Shares issuable upon such exercise, free of restrictive legends, unless a registration statement covering the resale of the Warrant Shares and naming the Holder as a selling stockholder thereunder is not then effective or the Warrant Shares are not freely transferable pursuant to Rule 144 under the Securities Act pursuant to transactions in which paragraph (c)(1) of such rule do not apply. The Holder, or any Person permissibly so designated by the Holder to receive Warrant Shares, shall be deemed to have become the holder of record of such Warrant Shares as of the Exercise Date.  If the Warrant Shares are to be issued free of all restrictive legends, the Company shall, upon the written request of the Holder, use its best efforts to deliver, or cause to be delivered, Warrant Shares hereunder electronically through The Depository Trust Company or another established clearing corporation performing similar functions, if available; provided, that, the Company may, but will not be required to, change its transfer agent if its current transfer agent cannot deliver Warrant Shares electronically through such a clearing corporation.

(b)            If (1) a certificate representing the Warrant Shares is not delivered to the Holder within three (3) Trading Days of the due exercise of this Warrant by the Holder and (2) prior to the time such certificate is received by the Holder, the Holder, or any third party on behalf of the Holder or for the Holder’s account, purchases (in an open market transaction or otherwise) shares of Common Stock to deliver in satisfaction of a sale by the Holder of shares represented by such certificate (a “ Buy-In ”), then the Company shall pay in cash to the Holder (for costs incurred either directly by such Holder or on behalf of a third party) the amount by which the total purchase price paid for Common Stock as a result of the Buy-In (including brokerage commissions, if any) exceeds the proceeds received by such Holder as a result of the sale to which such Buy-In relates.  The Holder shall provide the Company written notice indicating the amounts payable to the Holder in respect of the Buy-In and, upon request of the Company, evidence of the amount of such loss.

6.             Charges, Taxes and Expenses . Issuance and delivery of certificates for shares of Common Stock upon exercise of this Warrant shall be made without charge to the Holder for any issue or transfer tax, transfer agent fee or other incidental tax or expense in respect of the issuance of such certificates, all of which taxes and expenses shall be paid by the Company; provided, however , that the Company shall not be required to pay any tax which may be payable in respect of any transfer involved in the registration of any certificates for Warrant Shares or Warrants in a name other than that of the Holder or an Affiliate thereof. The Holder shall be responsible for all other tax liability that may arise as a result of holding or transferring this Warrant or receiving Warrant Shares upon exercise hereof.

7.             Replacement of Warrant .  If this Warrant is mutilated, lost, stolen or destroyed, the Company shall issue or cause to be issued in exchange and substitution for and upon cancellation hereof, or in lieu of and substitution for this Warrant, a New Warrant, but only upon receipt of evidence reasonably satisfactory to the Company of such loss, theft or destruction (in such case) and, in each case, a customary and reasonable indemnity (which shall not include a surety bond), if requested. Applicants for a New Warrant under such circumstances shall also comply with such other reasonable regulations and procedures and pay such other reasonable third-party costs as the Company may prescribe. If a New Warrant is requested as a result of a mutilation of this Warrant, then the Holder shall deliver such mutilated Warrant to the Company as a condition precedent to the Company’s obligation to issue the New Warrant.

8.            Reservation of Warrant Shares . The Company covenants that it will at all times reserve and keep available out of the aggregate of its authorized but unissued and otherwise unreserved Common Stock, solely for the purpose of enabling it to issue Warrant Shares upon exercise of this Warrant as herein provided, the number of Warrant Shares which are then issuable and deliverable upon the exercise of this entire Warrant, free from preemptive rights or any other contingent purchase rights of persons other than the Holder (taking into account the adjustments and restrictions of Section 9 ). The Company covenants that all Warrant Shares so issuable and deliverable shall, upon issuance and the payment of the applicable Exercise Price in accordance with the terms hereof, be duly and validly authorized, issued and fully paid and nonassessable. The Company will take all such action as may be necessary to assure that such shares of Common Stock may be issued as provided herein without violation of any applicable law or regulation, or of any requirements of any securities exchange or automated quotation system upon which the Common Shares may be listed.

9.             Certain Adjustments . The Exercise Price and number of Warrant Shares issuable upon exercise of this Warrant are subject to adjustment from time to time as set forth in this Section 9 .

(a)            Stock Dividends and Splits . If the Company, at any time while this Warrant is outstanding, (i) pays a stock dividend on its Common Stock or otherwise makes a distribution on any