Biotech firm strikes R&D deal with university to help fight cancer

Cizzle Biotechnology, a diagnostics developer and university spin out, has signed a new research and development agreement with the University of York.

It is for the further development and validation of its CIZ 1B biomarker technology for early stage cancer diagnosis and other potential applications in cancer therapy.

The 12-month agreement includes the evaluation of the company’s proprietary biomarker for detecting a range of cancers in addition to the existing programme for early lung cancer detection.

All intellectual property rights arising from the work will be owned by the company.

And the agreement extends access to state-of-the-art facilities and top scientists to support new solutions for early cancer diagnostics and therapeutic tools.

Cizzle Biotechnology was a spin out from the University of York based on research and development by Professor Dawn Coverley at the university and the first company from the university to be listed on the London Stock Exchange.

Allan Syms, executive chairman of Cizzle Biotechnology, said: “I’m pleased to further extend our relationship with the University of York and in particular the leading-edge research being a carried out in Professor Dawn Coverley’s laboratories.

“The continuity and commitment of the researchers at the university has been a key building block in the development and commercialization of the CIZ1B biomarker for early cancer diagnosis.

“The current research programme has met some critical milestones, especially in optimising the platform and antibodies required to scale up and bring to market our diagnostic tests for early stage cancer detection.

“This new agreement will continue our access to state of the art research facilities and world leading scientists as we pursue our plans to bring early detection tests for lung cancer and potentially other forms of cancer.”