Diagnostics Developer Cizzle Biotechnology (LON: CIZ) said it had seen encouraging progress in its collaboration with St George Street Capital (SGSC).
In June, Cizzle announced it had signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with SGSC covering a proposed collaboration to develop a companion diagnostic platform for which Cizzle Biotechnology will receive fees of up to £1 million.
In addition, under the MoU, SGSC has agreed to grant Cizzle Biotechnology potential future royalty payments from the commercialisation of St George Street Capital's therapeutic asset AZD1656 of up to £5 million, plus potentially further payments from the use of the companion diagnostic.
Earlier today, SGSC announced the results of the ARCADIA trial, a phase 2 clinical trial in 153 patients to assess the safety and efficacy of AZD1656 in diabetic patients hospitalised with suspected or confirmed COVID-19.
SGSC reported no safety concerns regarding the use of AZD1656 and they confirmed that there were strong trends in favour of AZD1656.
“The data from the ARCADIA trial supports continued investigation of AZD1656 for the treatment of diabetics with COVID-19 and in light of these encouraging results, St George Street Capital will undertake commercial discussions with potential licencees and/or fundraise for further clinical trials to investigate AZD1656 in a larger study,” said Cizzle.
Cizzle Biotechnology expects to enter into a full commercial contract with SGSC soon.
Allan Syms, Executive Chairman of Cizzle Biotechnology, said: “We congratulate St George Street Capital on the success of its ARCADIA clinical trial. This further supports our longer-term ambitions to work closely with St George Street Capital and to leverage the technology and know-how of Cizzle Biotechnology to match diagnostic capabilities with therapeutic need.
“This will increase product opportunities and potential revenue streams for the company, in addition to our core focus on developing our blood test for the early detection of a majority of the different forms of lung cancer.”
Cizzle Biotechnology's share price is currently trading at 5.21p, up 9.73%, after initially climbing to a high of 7.5p earlier in the session.
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