CelLBxHealth PLC (AIM:CLBX, FRA:DWV) saw its shares leap 36% to 2.35p following the announcement of a master services agreement with AstraZeneca PLC (LSE:AZN, NASDAQ:AZN).
AstraZeneca is a FTSE 100 pharmaceutical group, and the agreement marks a significant commercial milestone for the smaller AIM-listed company.
The deal formally establishes CelLBxHealth as a qualified service provider to the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant.
Under the agreement, CelLBxHealth will support drug discovery and development through CTC-powered analytics of clinical trial samples using its Parsortix platform.
CTCs, or circulating tumour cells, are cancer cells that have broken away from a tumour and entered the bloodstream.
Analysis of these cells can provide meaningful insights into how a disease is progressing or responding to treatment in patients.
CelLBxHealth’s patent-protected Parsortix platform harvests CTCs from blood samples for downstream analysis, including whole-cell imaging, proteomic profiling and genomic workflows.
A key feature of the agreement is its breadth, giving AstraZeneca access to CelLBxHealth’s capabilities across its entire development pipeline.
This means the arrangement is not limited to a single programme, potentially opening the door to multiple engagements between the two companies.
Peter Collins, chief executive of CelLBxHealth, said the company looked forward to delivering “strong and productive outcomes” through the framework.