Cizzle raises £500,000 to push US lung cancer test adoption

What's the deal? Cizzle Biotechnology has conditionally raised £500,000 from existing shareholder Frazer Lang to support commercial adoption of its CIZ1B lung cancer blood test in the US and to progress UK partner agreements, including with the NHSDealroom has a profile for this one. Try Dealroom →. The subscription involves the conversion of loan notes.

What's the endgame? The York-based diagnostics developer makes a blood test for the CIZ1B biomarker, which is associated with early-stage lung cancer detection. Its test became available to US clinicians through a CLIA-accredited lab in Texas in July, with a second laboratory partner and a broader rollout planned.

Why now? The raise is a modest, shareholder-backed bridge to commercialisation rather than evidence of broad uptake. It follows a revised deal with US licensee Cizzle Bio, which deferred US$1.81 million in expected guaranteed payments until the end of 2027 after the company acknowledged it would not receive the sum on the original schedule.

What could go wrong? The deferred payments make near-term sales and funding runway key watchpoints. Competition is also building: Freenome launched its SimpleScreen Lung blood test in October, and other lab-developed lung tests are emerging.

Cizzle founder Professor Dawn Coverley has pointed to the test's "many practical advantages over other methods, including low cost and the need for very small quantities of blood."

The signal: The funding bankrolls an early market push, but the proof points lie ahead — clinician demand, repeatable sales, and payment delivery, not the launch itself.

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Image credit: Neeta Lind