REG - Avacta Group PLC - License Agreement with POINT Biopharma Inc.

AvactaAnnouncement

07/01/2021 07:01

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RNS Number : 8449K  Avacta Group PLC  07 January 2021

7 January 2021

Avacta Group plc

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

 

License Agreement with POINT Biopharma Inc.

License to utilise Avacta's pre|CISION(TM) FAP sensitive activation platform
for radiopharmaceuticals

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the developer of innovative cancer therapies and
diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer(®) and pre|CISION(TM) platforms,
is pleased to announce that it has entered into a license agreement with POINT
Biopharma Inc. ("POINT"), to provide access to Avacta's pre|CISION™
technology for the development of tumour-activated radiopharmaceuticals.

The radiopharmaceutical market is expected to grow to $15 billion by 2025(1)
and there is a substantial opportunity to grow much faster if safety and
tolerability of these effective treatments can be improved. POINT Biopharma is
a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on developing radioligands(2)
as precision medicines for the treatment of cancer.

Avacta's proprietary pre|CISION(TM) chemistry can be used to modify a
radioligand drug to form a tumour-activated prodrug. The prodrug form is
inactive in circulation until it enters the tumour micro-environment where it
is activated by an enzyme called fibroblast activation protein (or FAP) that
is present in high abundance in most solid tumours but not in healthy tissue.
Avacta's pre|CISION™ technology therefore has the potential to improve the
tolerability and achieve better clinical outcomes for patients compared with
standard radiopharmaceuticals by targeting the radioligand treatment more
specifically to cancer cells.

The agreement provides POINT with an exclusive license to the pre|CISION
technology for use in the first radiopharmaceutical prodrug the company
intends to develop, and a non-exclusive license to the pre|CISION™ platform
for the development of a broader pipeline of FAP-activated
radiopharmaceuticals.

Under the terms of the agreement, Avacta will receive an upfront fee and
development milestones for the first radiopharmaceutical prodrug totalling
$9.5 million. Avacta will also receive milestone payments for subsequent
radiopharmaceutical prodrugs of up to $8 million each, a royalty on sales of
FAP-activated radiopharmaceuticals by POINT and a percentage of any
sublicensing income received by POINT.

Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group, commented:

"I am very pleased to have established this partnership with POINT that allows
Avacta to exploit its pre|CISION platform in a therapeutic area outside of our
in-house focus on chemotherapy prodrugs.

The clinical and commercial rationale for our pre|CISION prodrug platform is
to improve the safety and efficacy of many existing drugs, as well as
generating a pipeline of new and novel cancer therapies. In oncology, we
believe that this approach will result in better response rates for
monotherapies, and a greater safety margin, to enable their use with a larger
patient population and as part of combination therapies.

The in-house development of AVA6000 Pro-doxorubicin, the first of our
pre|CISION chemotherapy prodrugs for which we have recently submitted a CTA
filing in the UK to begin clinical trials in 2021, has already generated
significant interest and this is highlighted by the agreement with POINT
announced today.

The potential of the pre|CISION platform to significantly improve outcomes for
patients treated with existing cancer therapies through improved safety,
tolerability and dosing regimens is enormous. In addition, Avacta is combining
the pre|CISION technology with the Affimer platform to create an entirely new
class of proprietary TMAC drug conjugates.

I look forward to updating the market on further progress on these and the
diagnostic programmes across the Group in the near term."

(1)
https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/radio-pharmaceutical-market-1650
(https://www.marketresearchfuture.com/reports/radio-pharmaceutical-market-1650)
 (

2 )For more information about radioligands visit https://www.radioligands.org
(https://www.radioligands.org)

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).

 

- Ends-

 

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

 Avacta Group plc                                         Tel:  +44 (0) 844 414 0452
 Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer                  www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com)
 Tony Gardiner, Chief Financial Officer

 finnCap Ltd (Nominated Adviser and Joint Broker)         Tel: +44 (0) 207 220 0500
 Geoff Nash / Giles Rolls - Corporate Finance             www.finncap.com (http://www.finncap.com)

 Tim Redfern - ECM

 Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Joint Broker)            Tel: +44 (0) 207 710 7600
 Nicholas Moore / Nick Adams / Fred Walsh / Ben Maddison  www.stifel.com (http://www.stifel.com)

 Yellow Jersey PR (Financial Media and IR)                Tel: +44 (0) 203 004 9512
 Sarah Hollins / Henry Wilkinson                                                    avacta@yellowjerseypr.com (mailto:avacta@yellowjerseypr.com)

 Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media)           Tel: +44 (0) 7787 502 947
 Katie Odgaard                                            katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com
                                                          (mailto:katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com)

 

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

Avacta is developing novel cancer immunotherapies combining its two
proprietary platforms - Affimer(®) biotherapeutics and pre|CISION™ tumour
targeted chemotherapy. With this approach, the Company aims to address the
lack of a durable response to current immunotherapies experienced by most
patients. The Company's therapeutics development activities are based in
Cambridge, UK.

 

The Company benefits from near-term revenues generated from Affimer reagents
for diagnostics, bioprocessing and research, through a separate business unit
based in Wetherby, UK.

 

The Affimer platform is an alternative to antibodies derived from a small
human protein. Despite their shortcomings, antibodies currently dominate
markets worth in excess of $100 billion. Affimer technology has been designed
to address many of these negative performance issues, principally: the time
taken, and the reliance on an animal's immune response, to generate new
antibodies; poor specificity in many cases; large size and cost.

 

Avacta's pre|CISION targeted chemotherapy platform, releases active
chemotherapy only in the tumour, thereby limiting systemic exposure and damage
to healthy tissues, and thereby improving the overall safety and therapeutic
potential of these powerful anti-cancer treatments.

 

By combining these two platforms the Company is building a wholly owned
pipeline of novel cancer therapies with the aim of creating effective
treatments for all cancer patients including those who do not respond to
existing immunotherapies. Avacta expects to take its first drug, a pre|CISION
targeted form of the standard-of-care doxorubicin, into the clinic in early
2021.

 

Avacta has established drug development partnerships with pharma and biotech,
including with Moderna Therapeutics Inc., a deal with LG Chem worth up to $400
million, a partnership with ADC Therapeutics to develop Affimer drug
conjugates and has established a joint venture in South Korea with Daewoong
Pharmaceutical focused on cell and gene therapies incorporating Affimer
immune-modulators. Avacta actively seeks to license its proprietary platforms
in a range of therapeutic areas.

 

Avacta's diagnostics business unit works with partners world-wide to develop
Affimer reagents for evaluation by those third parties with the objective of
establishing royalty bearing license deals. The Company is also developing a
small in-house pipeline of Affimer-based diagnostic assays for licensing.

 

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

 

About POINT Biopharma - www.POINTBiopharma.com (http://www.POINTBiopharma.com)
 

POINT Biopharma is a global radiopharmaceutical company building a platform
for the clinical development and commercialization of radioligands to fight
cancer. POINT is combining a portfolio of best in class radiopharmaceutical
assets, a seasoned management team, strategic partnerships in radio-isotope
supply, manufacturing technology and novel direct-to-patient targeting to
revolutionize theranostic drug development and radioligand commercialization.

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