A York-based medical testing company has signed an agreement with a US firm to bring to market a blood test to quickly detect lung cancer next year.

Cizzle Biotechnology Holdings has granted exclusive licensing rights to Texas company Cizzle Bio for its proprietary CIZ1B biomarket test.

The test is based on the pioneering work of Professor Coverley and colleagues at the University of York.

When studying a naturally occurring cell nuclear protein involved in DNA replication called CIZ1, they discovered that a variant called CIZ1B is highly associated with the presence of early-stage cancer.

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Cizzle Biotechnology Holdings, a spin-out from the university’s Department of Biology, has now entered into commercial royalty bearing licensing agreements and collaborations with leading centres of excellence in cancer for the use of its proprietary technology as part of its strategy to bring its non-intrusive, cost-effective blood test to market.

This latest deal has provided the York firm $300,000 upfront and a minimum of $2million in royalty payments over the next 30 months.

Cizzle Biotechnology Holdings says the deal strengthens its position in the global diagnostics market by securing future revenue streams and funding for all clinical evaluations, accreditations, and marketing efforts in North America.

The deal also allows operations to quickly scale up whilst enabling Cizzle to pursue additional strategic goals, such as entering new geographic markets and advancing the development of a point-of-care (POC) test.

Whilst the renowned Moffitt Cancer Center in Florida conducts a major clinical evaluation of the CIZ1B biomarker lung cancer test in a real-world, high-volume clinical environment, the target is to secure CLIA accreditation for the test by the end of 2024, with a full product launch in North America planned for April 2025.

The results from this and other planned clinical evaluations could further validate the test’s potential to differentiate between malignant and benign lung nodules, paving the way for broader clinical use.

Cizzle Biotechnology says this agreement is an integral part of its global expansion plan to deliver non-invasive, cost-effective diagnostic tools for the early detection of lung cancer. The company's vision remains to improve early cancer detection and reduce mortality rates through accessible, cutting-edge diagnostic solutions.

Alan Syms, Executive Chairman of Cizzle Biotechnology, said: “This partnership marks a significant step in our global licensing and commercialisation strategy. The structure of the agreement not only secures immediate and long-term revenue for Cizzle, but also positions us to expand into new markets and drive further innovation, such as our point-of-care test.

“By collaborating with a highly experienced and well-funded US-based team, we are accelerating the delivery of our CIZ1B biomarker test to market, bringing hope to millions of patients through early lung cancer detection.”