Professor Fitzgerald’s medical start-up expands

Cyted Health, the medical tech start-up co-founded by Cambridge Professor of Cancer Prevention and Trinity Fellow Rebecca Fitzgerald, has secured US$44 million to expand its early detection test for esophageal cancer.

Cyted Health is a molecular diagnostics company that provides a ‘pill on a string’ test that is a quicker and less invasive alternative to endoscopy to find more individuals at risk of this cancer.

In the UK more than 9,000 people are diagnosed with esophageal cancer each year, of which 80% are identified too late to treat effectively.

Since Professor Fitzgerald first developed the capsule sponge – now called the EndoSign® – trials have taken place with 35,000 people, and the seven-minute procedure is used across the NHS.

The new funding will enable the company to expand into Europe and in the US – where the EndoSign® has been approved by US Food and Drug Administration.

Professor Fitzgerald, who is the newly appointed Head of Oncology in Cambridge and Founder-Director of the Early Cancer Institute, said:

As an inventor of this technology and a co-founder of Cyted Health I am absolutely thrilled that we now have the runway to develop and implement our test for earlier diagnosis of cancer of the esophagus. This is fantastic news for patients and the UK economy.

It was a PhD student with an entrepreneurial background and healthcare knowledge who galvanized the foundation of Cyted Health.

Marcel Gehrung, who came to Cambridge for a PhD in how to apply AI to medical imaging, was co-supervised by Prof Fitzgerald. Interested in her innovation, he recognized that commercialization was key to rolling out the diagnostic test – and making a difference both to peoples’ lives and the NHS budget. He said:

‘This investment marks a defining moment for Cyted as we continue to deepen our commitment to detecting esophageal diseases earlier. We are now in a position to expand our US presence and adding new life-saving innovations to our advanced diagnostics portfolio.’

Professor Fitzgerald, her long-time collaborator NHS pathology consultant Professor Maria O’Donovan, and Dr Gehrung co-founded the company just before the COVID pandemic hit. Suddenly there was demand for easier and non-hospital-based testing than endoscopies. Dr Gehrung, the CEO of Cyted Health, said:

COVID had suddenly catapulted the technology out from just a very big clinical trial with some excellent outcomes into: ‘how can we suddenly address the curtailment in endoscopy services across the country?’

Cyted Health responded rapidly, acquiring a Cambridgeshire company with clinical labs and expanding the workforce. Since then the company has gone from strength to strength and the founders hope this will be another step forward in improving outcomes for patients.