Biolidics shares shot up yesterday after the company announced a partnership with China's LC-Bio to develop cancer-diagnostic solutions.

The stock surged 35.5 per cent to an intra-day high of 42 cents before closing at 41 cents, up 32 per cent with 62 million shares changing hands.

Catalist-listed Biolidics will be LC-Bio's exclusive partner in China for the development of cancerdiagnostics solutions at the Chinese firm's laboratory in Hangzhou.

The five-year deal will involve Biolidics supplying material and consumables to the project while LC-Bio will provide laboratories and other services.

Biolidics shares sank 22 per cent at the end of last month after it announced that it mutually agreed with Aytu BioScience to terminate a distribution agreement for its Covid-19 antibody test kits in the United States amid increased competition.

It said that it would instead develop a new test kit with broader use outside of laboratory or clinical settings.

The genesis of the new collaboration came in February when Biolidics announced that it was aiming to obtain clinical validation of its cancer diagnostic solution in the second half of this year.

Once this passes clinical validation tests, Biolidics will be responsible for the market promotion and applications, while LC-Bio will oversee the issuance of the test result reports in its name.

Biolidics will pay for these reports. It had previously announced that it plans to "launch and progressively market the cancer-diagnostic solutions to hospitals across China".

Cancer is the leading cause of death in China and has become a major public health problem, the company noted.

The agreement is not expected to have material impact on the net tangible assets and earnings per share of the group for the financial year ending Dec 31.

THE BUSINESS TIMES