Cizzle Biotechnology Holdings plc (LON:CIZ), the UK based diagnostics developer, has announced a further update regarding the Company’s put option to sell its 5% economic interest and royalty sharing agreement in the AZD 1656 asset to treat inflammatory pulmonary and cardiovascular disease to Conduit Pharmaceuticals for a total consideration of £3.25 million, to be satisfied through the issuance of new shares in Conduit and its prospective parent Murphy Canyon Acquisition Corp. (NASDAQ: MURF).
Cizzle announced on 8 September that 2023 that Murphy planned to hold a special meeting of its shareholders to provide their approval for the merger of Conduit and Murphy on Wednesday 20 September 2023. At the meeting held yesterday the merger was approved and as a consequence it is expected to complete today. Assuming the merger completes as expected, the Conduit-Murphy merged business, thereafter to be called Conduit, will become a publicly traded company on NASDAQ in the USA tomorrow, 22 September 2023.
Should Cizzle exercise its Option, the Company will hold shares in the NASDAQ listed merged business. The new shares in Conduit to be provided to Cizzle pursuant to the exercise of the Option will not be subject to any restrictions.
Cizzle Biotechnology is developing a blood test for the early detection of lung cancer. The Company is a spin- out from the University of York, founded in 2006, around the work of Professor Coverley and colleagues. Its proof-of-concept prototype test is based on the ability to detect a stable plasma biomarker, a variant of CIZ1 known as CIZ1B. CIZ1 is a naturally occurring cell nuclear protein involved in DNA replication, and the targeted CIZ1B variant is highly correlated with early-stage lung cancer.
