Glycotest Licenses IP from S. Carolina university

EMV Capital PLC

13 October 2026

 

For announcement on Reach: 07.00 a.m., 13 October 2026

EMV Capital plc

(EMVC or the Company)

Glycotest Licenses Novel Biomarker Intellectual Property from the Medical University of South Carolina

To Advance Next-Generation Liver Fibrosis Staging Test

EMV Capital plc (AIM: EMVC), the deep tech and life sciences VC investment group, announces that its portfolio company Glycotest has executed a licence agreement with the Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization (ZI), the commercialisation entity advancing technologies originated from the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), for intellectual property relating to Glycotest’s blood test for staging liver fibrosis.

The licensed IP supports the expansion of Glycotest’s proprietary LRAGG biomarker into multi-biomarker panels with the potential for greater clinical performance and extended patent protection.

Under the terms of the agreement, Glycotest receives exclusive worldwide rights to the licensed intellectual property, and ZI will receive a royalty on future product sales, along with other financial consideration.

Accurate staging of liver fibrosis is essential to managing patients with chronic liver disease, helping guide treatment decisions and monitor disease progression. The need for accessible, effective fibrosis assessment is particularly acute in the rapidly growing population with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), where identifying clinically meaningful fibrosis before progression to advanced disease can inform patient management.

MASLD affects an estimated 100 million US adults and more than 1 billion people worldwide, creating a substantial and growing need for non-invasive fibrosis assessment. Clinical guidelines recommend periodic fibrosis assessment for at-risk patients, representing a global market opportunity projected* to reach as high as $3 billion by 2033.

Through its clinical laboratory services business model, Glycotest is committed to providing physicians and patients with convenient, objective, blood-based tools for liver fibrosis staging.

The newly licensed intellectual property was developed by Professor Anand Mehta, DPhil, who holds the SmartState Chair in Proteomic Biomarkers at MUSC and is a recognised leader in the discovery and validation of glycoprotein and proteomic biomarkers for liver disease.

Liver fibrosis affects millions of patients worldwide, with rising prevalence driven in large part by the growing burden of MASH. Non-invasive, blood-based staging tools are increasingly viewed as essential to identifying patients who require closer monitoring or intervention before disease progresses to cirrhosis, the point at which treatment options narrow considerably.

Charles Swindell, PhD, CEO, Glycotest, commented:

“This license agreement with the Zucker Institute is an important step in strengthening our liver fibrosis staging pipeline. By expanding our proprietary LRAGG biomarker into a multi-biomarker panel, we believe we can deliver even greater clinical performance while extending the intellectual property protection around our technology. We are excited to work with Professor Mehta and his team, whose deep expertise in glycoproteomic biomarker discovery is highly complementary to our mission of bringing novel non-invasive tests to patients with liver disease.”

Anand Mehta, DPhil, SmartState Chair in Proteomic Biomarkers, MUSC, said:

“Our research has focused on identifying biomarkers that can meaningfully improve the accuracy of non-invasive liver fibrosis staging, particularly for patients in the intermediate stages of disease who stand to benefit most from early intervention. Licensing this intellectual property to Glycotest gives it a clear path toward the clinic, and I look forward to collaborating with their team to advance a next-generation, multi-biomarker panel that builds on the LRAGG platform.”

Dr Ilian Iliev, CEO of EMV Capital, said:

“This agreement is a good example of the Glycotest team methodically building value. By adding to its fibrosis programme and IP protection, the company is extending a diagnostics platform through IP-led, capital-efficient growth, which is central to EMV Capital’s investment thesis. We look forward to supporting the team as they work towards becoming a standard in liver diagnostics.”

*Grand View Research, Hepatic Fibrosis Biomarkers Market Analysis Report (2025–2033); Coherent Market Insights, Transient Elastography Devices Market Forecast

-Ends-

For more information, please contact:

EMV Capital plc	via Rosewood
Ilian Iliev, CEO
Panmure Liberum Limited (NOMAD and Broker)	[phone]
Emma Earl / Will Goode / Freddy Crossley / Mark Rogers (Corporate Finance)
Rupert Dearden (Corporate Broking)
Rosewood (Financial PR)	[phone]
John West / Llew Angus

About EMV Capital plc (EMVC)

EMV Capital plc is a deep tech and life sciences venture capital investment group with an international portfolio of high-growth companies. With a focus on generating superior returns for investors from the fast-growing sectors and technologies that will define our future, EMV Capital invests in, manages and strengthens early-stage IP-rich companies.

EMV Capital holds both direct equity stakes and carried interest in its portfolio companies, creating an evergreen structure that supports extensive growth and value creation. EMV Capital's investment thesis is realised through these capital sources:

         capital-efficient investments through Group balance sheet;

         fund management of the Evergreen EIS and Martlet Capital Funds;

         syndicated investments leveraging its network of third-party investors.

EMV Capital's approach is characterised by its proactive management style, aiming to advance portfolio companies to critical value inflection points by actively engaging with them. Companies are supported through Board representation and the use of its Value Creation Services practice.

Headquartered in London, with a Cambridge presence and strong international links, EMV Capital is quoted on the AIM market of the London Stock Exchange.

www.emvcapital.com

About Glycotest, Inc.

Glycotest is a private liver disease diagnostics company with a pipeline of clinical-stage blood tests for hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma and fibrosis. The Company is focused on the estimated $4 billion global liver cancer surveillance and fibrosis staging market. Glycotest was spun out of the Philadelphia area institutions Baruch S. Blumberg Institute and Drexel University College of Medicine and is backed by the London-based VC investor EMV Capital and other private investors.

Learn more at https://www.glycotest.com

About the Medical University of South Carolina

The Zucker Institute for Innovation Commercialization is the commercialisation organisation for the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC), working to translate MUSC discoveries into products, services and companies that improve health and generate economic impact. The Zucker Institute manages MUSC intellectual property and works with faculty, entrepreneurs, investors and industry partners to advance promising innovations toward the marketplace.

Learn more at https://www.zuckerinnovation.org/

 

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