CorePath has announced a partnership with Cizzle Biotechnology, a UK based diagnostics developer, to develop and offer a proprietary early-stage lung cancer test throughout the United States.

Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer death in the USA, making up almost 25% of all cancer deaths. Each year, more people die of lung cancer than colon, breast, and prostate cancers combined.

Currently, there are no simple specific blood tests to detect lung cancer early when targeted interventions can improve timely access to cancer care and save lives. Yet it is estimated that about eight million Americans qualify as high risk for lung cancer and are recommended to receive annual screening with low-dose ­­­­­CT scans and if half of these high risk individuals were screened, over 12,000 lung cancer deaths could be prevented.

Commenting, Dr. Aamir Ehsan, CEO and Medical Director of CorePath, said: "As a board-certified hematopathologist and molecular geneticist; diagnosing cancer is hurting especially when cancer has already metastasized in patients. While efforts are underway to find actional genetic mutations to target treatment and improve survival; early detection and intervention are key to patients' long-term survival and cure. The agreement with Cizzle Biotechnology represents a significant opportunity to provide early and cost-effective lung cancer detection via a simple and quick blood test which will result in significant cost savings downstream, avoiding expensive treatment, hospital admissions and ultimately saving lives."

Commenting, Allan Syms, Executive Chairman of Cizzle Biotechnology, said, "Lung cancer is the leading cause of cancer deaths in the USA and a major health problem globally. The company's CIZ1B biomarker to detect early-stage lung cancer could represent a major breakthrough and we now have the opportunity to bring the benefits of this test to such an important market. We are delighted to be partnering with CorePath Laboratories who bring the expert knowledge and market reach to help develop our biomarker into a certified test that can be made available to patients and healthcare providers throughout the USA."