Lung cancer remains one of the clearest examples of why earlier diagnosis matters. While survival rates have improved for several major cancers, progress has been slower in a group of harder-to-treat diseases that continue to cause a large share of cancer deaths. These include lung, pancreatic, liver, brain, oesophageal and stomach cancers.
These six cancers account for around half of all deaths from common cancers, despite making up only a quarter of diagnoses. Average five-year survival across the group is just 16 per cent. That points to a major area of unmet medical need where better detection could have a direct effect on outcomes.
Lung cancer is a central part of this challenge. It is one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers worldwide and the leading cause of cancer death in the UK. The problem is that early-stage lung cancer often has few or no symptoms, so many patients are diagnosed only after the disease has advanced. By that point, treatment is more difficult and survival rates are significantly lower.
Stage 1 lung cancer can have five-year survival rates of 70% to 90%, while Stage 4 survival is below 10%. Detecting the disease earlier can therefore change the treatment window. It can give patients more options, improve the chance of successful treatment and reduce the burden on healthcare systems.
Cizzle Biotechnology is focused on this specific problem. The company is developing a non-invasive blood-based test designed to detect lung cancer at its earliest and most treatable stages. The aim is to identify signs of the disease before symptoms appear, when intervention is more likely to make a difference.
Cizzle is targeting a high-need cancer area where late diagnosis is a major cause of poor outcomes. Its proposed test is designed around a practical clinical need: a simple blood-based approach that could support earlier detection. Earlier detection can influence the whole patient pathway, from diagnosis to treatment decisions and long-term outcomes.
Cizzle Biotechnology Holdings plc (LON:CIZ) is a pioneering cancer diagnostics company, originally a spin-out from the University of York, and now listed on the London Stock Exchange.
