Avacta Group Plc Another important box ticked

Hardman & Co Report Report DownloadsAvacta Group Plc (LON:AVCT) is the proprietary owner of Affimer technology for the development of bio-therapeutics, diagnostic tests and research reagents. Affimers represent a radical alternative to established antibody technology which dominates the drug industry despite its limitations. During 2016, Avacta made considerable progress towards its strategic goal to have a first-in-man Affimer therapeutic by the end of 2019. In two years, management has hit several key milestones, moving Affimers from being an ‘interesting concept’ to one of ‘real opportunity’ and de-risking the technology as the next platform of biopharmaceutical drugs.

 

Strategy: To commercialise its Affimer technology through a combination of bespoke research tools, collaborative deals and by identifying and developing its own proprietary therapeutic Affimer leads. The company has sufficient cash resource to identify an Affimer lead through to IND submission (end 2018).

Immunogenicity: Results from the immunogenicity study were the very best that could be expected. High concentrations of three Affimer constructs were shown to have very low immunogenicity, comparable to Avastin, in a well-recognised industry-standard assay, hitting an important drug development milestone.

Interims: The focus was more on the immunogenicity data than the numbers. However, the first-half has proceeded close to forecasts and the company ended the period with £0.6m more net cash than expected, at £16.1m. Sales increased +17% to £1.26m (£1.05m), the reported figure being boosted modestly by forex.

Risks: Affimers represent a new disruptive technology and the potential customer base might take time to recognise their advantages. While all new drug development carries a high risk, Avacta has hit a number of important milestones over the last years which have considerably altered the risk profile.

Investment summary: Avacta Group Plc has made considerable progress towards its goal of having its own proprietary Affimer-based drugs. In just 18 months, it has completed a number of in vitro and in vivo pre-clinical tests. The next step will be to select its immuno-oncology lead candidate and file an Investigational New Drug (IND) in late 2018, as a prelude to beginning clinical testing in 2019. The market is starting to wake up to this interesting de novo technology platform.

Click to view all articles for the EPIC:
Or click to view the full company profile:
Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Hardman & Co

More articles like this

Avacta Group Plc

Avacta plc notice regarding publication error

Regarding a recent aggregated news article published earlier today, which has since been taken down, this was an error on the DirectorsTalk part linking to old news. This was nothing to do with Avacta Plc. The

Avacta Group Plc

Avacta inks radiopharma deal with POINT Biopharma

UK-based Avacta Group (AIM: AVCT) has entered into a license agreement with Canadian firm POINT Biopharma to provide access to Avacta’s pre|CISION technology for the development of tumor-activated radiopharmaceuticals.  The radiopharmaceutical market is expected to grow

Avacta Group Plc

Avacta signs new cancer therapy deal

Avacta Group, the developer of innovative cancer therapies, has entered into a license agreement with Point Biopharma to provide access to Avacta’s technology for the development of tumour-activated radiopharmaceuticals. Radiopharmaceutical therapy is now seen as a

Avacta Group Plc

Research looks to improve wastewater testing for COVID-19

Accurately identifying changes in community COVID-19 infections through wastewater surveillance is moving closer to reality. A new study, published in Environmental Science & Technology, identifies a method that not only detects the virus in wastewater samples but also

Avacta Group Plc

Hopes for clinical trial on humans of tumour targeting drug

Hopes for clinical trial of tumour targeting drug by Avacta. The company has filed an application for phase one testing, for its pre|CISION prodrug AVA6000. If approved, it will be tested on patients with metastatic solid tumours. The

Avacta Group Plc

BioSpace global roundup

U.K.-based Avacta Group announced significant progress in the development of a highly scalable manufacturing process for a lateral flow SARS-CoV-2 antigen test being carried out with BBI Solutions, and that the lateral flow test has very good analytical

Avacta Group Plc

Talks could trigger COVID test rollout

Cambridge biotech Avacta Group is in discussions with commercial partners to establish a route to market for a CE marked BAMS COVID-19 test that can be deployed in hospitals in the UK and Europe. It is