Manchester firm lands multi-million pound investment for global expansion

Manchester-based Zilico has secured two major deals, totalling $19m, to support the company’s global expansion plans in China and the US for ZedScan, its cervical cancer diagnostic system.

Zilico has secured a strategic deal with the MaxHealth Medicine Group in China, which will allow MaxHealth to sell and market ZedScan to the Chinese market. The deal will see Zilico receive minimum royalties of $12m.

The company said that figures show that China accounts for nearly a quarter of the world’s cervical cancer burden and still continues to increase. As a result, the Chinese government has prioritised screening as part of the solution to manage the disease.

“We are seeing double-digit growth in the uptake of medical devices in countries such as China, as they focus on improving standards of care. This deal supports our global aspirations of introducing ZedScan and our proprietary Electrical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) technology into emerging markets, who are rapidly adopting medical technologies to help better manage patient diagnosis and treat disease,” said Sameer Kothari, CEO Zilico.

MaxHealth Medicine Group,with its headquarters in Wuxi, will lead the registration of ZedScan with the Chinese Food & Drug Administration (CFDA).

“We first met Zilico 18 months ago and were very impressed with the rigour of their science, supply chain and with ZedScan. The positive outcomes from hospitals in the UK provides reassurance of our replicating these benefits for Chinese patients who suffer from this preventable cancer, ” says Tony Miao, CEO of MaxHealth.

“The investment also helps align the two businesses, both with global ambitions.”

Zilico has also announced investments totalling $7m from Deepbridge Capital (UK) and MaxHealth. Both investments will help Zilico further drive the adoption of ZedScan across the UK and Europe as well as taking the product through its regulatory trials in the US.

The company has recently appointed Dr Michael Gold, past president of the American Society of Colposcopy and Cervical Pathology (ASCCP) to its Medical Advisory Board in preparation for entering the US market.

Dr Savvas Neophytou, partner for Life Sciences at Deepbridge, said: “We are delighted to be working closely with the exceptional team at Zilico.  We are very excited at the potential of electrical impedance spectroscopy for medical applications and the team at Zilico has already demonstrated its significance with ZedScan.”

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