Cizzle Biotechnology plc (LON:CIZ), the UK based diagnostics developer, has announced it has executed a royalty sharing agreement with St George Street Capital, the UK-based biomedical charity.
As announced on 22 June 2021, Cizzle Biotechnology signed a Memorandum of Understanding with SGSC to grant Cizzle Biotechnology potential future royalty payments from the commercialisation of St George Street’s therapeutic asset AZD1656 of up to £5 million, plus potentially further payments from the use of a companion diagnostic. The full commercial contract in relation to this has now been entered into, following the announcement on 9 September 2021 of the encouraging clinical trial results from SGSC’s ARCADIA trial. The trial was initiated from an existing collaboration between SGSC and AstraZeneca and funded by international investment through Excalibur Medicines Ltd and an HM Government grant through the UKRI/Innovate UK programme.
While future royalties are contingent on the successful development of AZD1656, the recent clinical trial results are a positive step and Cizzle Biotechnology’s royalty rights are not limited to the success of AZD1656 for treating COVID 19. Cizzle Biotechnology’s royalty rights also cover the use of AZD1656 for other diseases and AZD1656 has been shown to affect the immune system at sites of damaging inflammation which can be typical in autoimmune disease. Under the full commercial contract entered into, in consideration of the potential future royalty stream from the commercialisation of AZD1656, Cizzle Biotechnology is to pay £135,000 to SGSC.
Commenting, Allan Syms, Executive Chairman of Cizzle Biotechnology, said: “As announced on 9 September following SGSC’s successful ARCADIA clinical trial, we expected to enter into a full commercial royalty agreement with SGSC for AZD1656, which we have now completed. This is a further step in building our long-term relationship with SGSC. We also intend, in due course, to execute our collaboration agreement with them to develop a companion diagnostic which has fees payable to Cizzle Biotechnology of £1 million. We are entering an exciting time for the Company to increase our product portfolio while continuing to develop our simple blood test for the early detection of lung cancer based on the C1Z1B biomarker.”
Commenting, Professor John Martin of UCL, Chairman of SGSC, said: “”Following the report this month of the success of our ARCADIA clinical trial of a new treatment for COVID-19, we are pleased to complete our formal royalty sharing agreement with Cizzle Biotech. We see this as part of a long-term relationship where we can each benefit from strategically aligned skill sets building a complimentary portfolio of diagnostic and therapeutic products; the strategy will produce clinical advances that would not have been achieved by either party alone.”
