REG - Avacta Group PLC - AffyXell successfully completes funding round

AvactaAnnouncement

21/07/2022 07:00

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RNS Number : 1966T  Avacta Group PLC  21 July 2022

21 July 2022

 

Avacta Group plc

 

("Avacta" or "the Group" or "the Company")

 

AffyXell Successfully Completes Funding Round

 

AffyXell, Avacta's joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, has raised
further funding from existing and new investors to drive its lead cell therapy
programme towards the clinic

 

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company
developing innovative cancer therapies and powerful diagnostics based on its
proprietary Affimer(®) and pre|CISION™ platforms, today announces that
AffyXell, its joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., a
publicly listed South Korean pharmaceutical company, has successfully
completed a funding round to advance its lead mesenchymal stem cell (MSC)
programme towards the clinic, and to develop its wider pre-clinical pipeline
of cell therapies.

 

AffyXell is a joint venture established in January 2020 by Daewoong
Pharmaceuticals and Avacta, developing the next generation of cell and gene
therapies based on mesenchymal stem cells which incorporate Affimer(®)
immunotherapies. This new class of stem cell therapy is designed to produce
Affimer(®) proteins, in situ in the body, that reduce inflammatory or
autoimmune responses to the stem cell therapy to potentially enhance their
therapeutic effects.

 

The proceeds of the fundraise, which remain undisclosed for reasons of
confidentiality, from existing and new financial and strategic investors, will
allow the company to progress through significant value inflection points. The
funds will be used to support Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies
which will underpin a regulatory filing to take its lead programme into the
clinic. The funding will also allow AffyXell to develop the broader pipeline
of cell therapies to address a wide range of immune diseases with high unmet
needs, and to reinforce its platform IP portfolio.

 

Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive of Avacta Group plc commented:

"We are delighted with the continued strong progress made by AffyXell. This
joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical is a key strategic collaboration
allowing us to demonstrate the potential of the Affimer platform to enhance
cell therapies generally, as well as providing an opportunity to address high
unmet need in AffyXell's focus area of immune diseases."

 

Dr Jong Sang Ryu, Chief Executive Officer of AffyXell said:

"I am very pleased that we have raised the capital required to accelerate the
development of therapies using AFX platform targeting intractable diseases and
providing meaningful options for suffering patients, especially in the
immunology area."

- ENDS -

 

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was
considered inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU)
No 596/2014 (MAR).

 

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

 

 Avacta Group plc

 Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer                       Tel: +44 (0) 844 414 0452

 Tony Gardiner, Chief Financial Officer                        www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com)

 Michael Vinegrad, Group Communications Director

 Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nomad and Broker)

 Nicholas Moore / Nick Adams / Fred Walsh / Nicholas Harland   Tel: +44 (0) 207 710 7600

                                                               www.stifel.com (http://www.stifel.com/)
 FTI Consulting (Financial Media and IR)

 Simon Conway / Alex Shaw / George Kendrick                    Tel: +44(0) 203 727 1000

                                                               Avacta.LS@fticonsulting.com (mailto:Avacta.LS@fticonsulting.com)

 Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media)

 Lily Jeffery                                                  Tel: +44 (0)7891 477 378

                                                               lily.jeffery@zymecommunications.com
                                                               (mailto:katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com)

 

About Avacta Group plc - www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com)

 

Avacta Group is developing novel cancer immunotherapies and powerful
diagnostics based on its two proprietary platforms - Affimer(®) biologics and
pre|CISION™ tumour targeted chemotherapies.

 

The Affimer(®) platform is an alternative to antibodies and is derived from a
small human protein. Affimer technology has been designed to address many of
the negative issues of antibodies, principally: the time taken to generate new
antibodies, the reliance on an animal's immune response; poor specificity in
many cases; in addition to, the complexity and high cost of manufacture.
Despite these shortcomings, antibodies currently dominate markets, such as
diagnostics and therapeutics, which are worth in excess of $100bn.

 

Avacta's pre|CISION™ targeted chemotherapy platform is designed to
selectively release active chemotherapy in FAP rich tumour tissue to limit the
systemic exposure that causes damage to healthy tissues, and thereby aims to
improve the overall safety and therapeutic potential of these powerful
anti-cancer treatments.

 

The Avacta Group comprises two divisions: The therapeutics development
activities are based in London, UK and a separate diagnostics business unit is
based in Wetherby, UK. The Group is generating near-term revenues from
Affimer(®) reagents for diagnostics, bioprocessing and research.

 

Avacta's Diagnostics Division is developing an in-house pipeline of
Affimer-based diagnostic assays, including the AffiDX(®) SARS-CoV-2 Lateral
Flow Rapid Antigen Test, and works with partners world-wide to develop bespoke
Affimer(®) reagents for third party products.

 

Avacta's Therapeutics Division is working to generate more tolerable and
durable treatments for oncology patients who do not respond to existing
therapies. By combining its two proprietary platforms the Group is building a
wholly owned pipeline of clinically differentiated cancer therapies. In 2021
Avacta transitioned to become a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, when
it commenced a phase I trial in patients with locally advanced or metastatic
selected solid tumours. The study was a first-in-human, open label,
dose-escalation and expansion study of the Group's lead pre|CISION™ prodrug,
AVA6000 (a pro-doxorubicin).

 

Avacta has established drug development partnerships with pharma and biotech,
including a multi-target deal with LG Chem worth up to $400m, a joint venture
in South Korea with Daewoong Pharmaceutical focused on cell and gene therapies
incorporating Affimer immune-modulators and a recent license agreement with
Point Biopharma for them to develop radiopharmaceuticals based on the
pre|CISION™ platform.

 

To register for news alerts by email go to
www.avacta.com/investor-news-email-alerts
(http://www.avacta.com/investor-news-email-alerts)

 

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