# Cizzle Biotechnology/Bould: Early detection of lung cancer

- Link: https://www.directorstalkinterviews.com/cizzle-biotechnologybould-early-detection-of-lung-cancer/412989848
- Published: 2021-05-17T08:27:00+01:00
- Author: Amilia Stone

**Cizzle Biotechnology Ltd** (LON:CIZ) was identified by Bould Opportunities (Bould)
as its preferred target for a reverse takeover. Cizzle is a spin-out from the University
of York to exploit the biomarker, variant CIZ1b, for early detection of different
forms of lung cancer. The presence of nodules often detected on chest scans is suspicious,
but not usually a sign of lung disease. Therefore, there is high medical need for
a simple blood test to be used alongside a positive chest scan that allows early
detection of lung cancer and significantly reduces the number of false positives.
The company has raised £2.2m to develop its biomarker test through to CE marking.

 * **Strategy:** Cizzle is a diagnostic company progressing a biomarker companion
   diagnostic assay that aims to deliver a simple blood test for lung cancer which
   can pick up the disease earlier to improve the chances of survival, and to greatly
   reduce the need for unnecessary follow-up tests and tissue biopsies.
 * **Variant CIZ1b:** CIZ1 is a naturally occurring cell nuclear protein that promotes
   DNA replication. Cizzle has shown that variant CIZ1b is prevalent in lung tumours.
   The variant protein can be detected in the blood at an early stage in lung cancer
   patients, when the disease still bears a good prognosis.
 * **The opportunity:** Lung cancer is generally first identified from a chest scan.
   Patients with suspicious scans then undergo further tests. However, these often
   result in false positives that require two-year follow-up. Eliminating 50% of
   these could help patients and generate substantial cost savings for healthcare
   providers.
 * **Risks:** Cizzle has a proven prototype test. To move this to a commercial product
   with CE marking, the company needs to produce a monoclonal antibody, optimise
   the reagents and buffer environment, and validate the test with a retrospective
   trial. The aim is to achieve this within two years.
 * **Investment summary:** The EV of Cizzle Biotechnology, at the time of Admission,
   will be £24.4m. A group of four close peers, all working in the field of specialist
   diagnostics/liquid biopsies, mostly in the field of oncology, currently have 
   an average EV of £109.2m, but are at a later stage of development and/or involved
   in COVID-19 testing. This suggests that Cizzle is trading at a discount of 78%
   to its peers, reflecting its earlier stage of development, with considerable 
   upside potential.

[DOWNLOAD THE FULL REPORT](https://www.hardmanandco.com/research/corporate-research/early-detection-of-lung-cancer/?dm_i=49CL,12J4E,6NAI95,4V093,1#report-download)

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