20 September 2021

Cizzle Biotechnology Holdings Plc

("Cizzle Biotechnology" or the "Company")

Agreement with St George Street Capital

Royalty agreement signed for potential COVID 19 treatment for diabetic patients and possible additional therapeutic indications

Cizzle Biotechnology, the UK based diagnostics developer, is pleased to announce it has executed a royalty sharing agreement with St George Street Capital ("SGSC"), the UK-based biomedical charity.  As announced on 22 June 2021, Cizzle Biotechnology signed a Memorandum of Understanding ("MoU") 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".

This announcement contains inside information for the purposes of article 7 of EU Regulation 596/2014 which forms part of domestic UK law pursuant to the European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 ("UK MAR").  Upon the publication of this announcement this inside information is now considered to be within the public domain.

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About Cizzle Biotechnology

Cizzle Biotechnology is developing a blood test for the early detection of a majority of the different forms of lung cancer.  Cizzle Biotechnology 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.

For more information please see https://cizzlebiotechnology.com

You can also follow the Company through its twitter account @CizzlePlc and on LinkedIn.

About St George Street Capital

St George Street Capital is a biomedical research charity on a mission to fast-track clinical trials so we can get new treatments as quickly as possible to the people who need them. We apply bold new thinking to unlock the therapeutic potential of therapies and science currently sitting on the shelf in pharma. We are a new type of charity, sourcing investment to accelerate clinical trials, where new science shows great potential and where patients and clinicians are calling out for treatments. St George Street Capital was established in 2017 and brings together a powerful mix of expertise, from investors and business managers to academics and clinicians.