REG - Avacta Group PLC - Avacta appoints Chief Scientific Officer

AvactaAnnouncement

15/10/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 1444I  Avacta Group PLC  15 October 2024

 

 

Avacta Group plc

 

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

 

Avacta Group strengthens executive team with appointment of Michelle Morrow,
PhD as Chief Scientific Officer

 

London, Oct. 15, 2024 - Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company
developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs, today announced the
appointment of seasoned scientific leader Michelle Morrow, PhD as Chief
Scientific Officer with effect from November 4, 2024. Dr. Morrow brings nearly
20 years' experience in oncology therapeutics and antibody research at both
biotech and pharmaceutical companies. She will fill a key role in the
management team at Avacta as the Company evolves into a therapeutics-focused
biotech. She most recently served at invoX Pharma as Senior Vice President
(SVP), Head of invoX Therapeutics Innovation, leading a discovery and
preclinical research team that was established following the Company's
acquisition of F-star Therapeutics, where she held the position of SVP, Head
of Research.

 

Christina Coughlin, MD, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta, commented: "We
are thrilled to welcome Michelle to the team, she brings decades of experience
in translating early science into innovative and effective medicines for
patients. Michelle's scientific leadership is exemplified by an outstanding
track record in advancing novel oncology candidates from target validation
through preclinical research to Phase 2 clinical proof-of-concept. Michelle
will be a significant asset to the Avacta team in driving our programs forward
and we look forward to benefiting from her wealth of expertise."

 

Michelle Morrow, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer designate of Avacta, commented:
"I am delighted to join Avacta at such an exciting time in its development.
The progress made in the AVA6000 clinical trial, and the potential of the
pre|CISION™ platform are very exciting. I look forward to leveraging my
experience in oncology drug development to help further drive the Company's
pipeline and explore the full potential of our therapies to benefit patients'
lives."

 

During her time at F-star, Dr. Morrow made significant contributions to
progressing bispecific candidates from discovery and into clinical trials and
led F-star's biology and translational research functions. Prior to that, she
established an immuno-oncology preclinical modelling group supporting projects
across the Medimmune and AstraZeneca portfolio and held Discovery Project
Leader roles for Imfinzi(®), an approved anti-PD-L1 antibody, and
volrustomig, an anti- PD-1/CTLA-4 bispecific antibody.

 

Dr. Morrow earned her PhD in Immunology from the University of Cambridge, UK
and conducted post-doctoral research into childhood leukaemia at the Institute
of Child Health, London.

 

 

-Ends-

 

 

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

 

 Avacta Group plc

 Michael Vinegrad, Group Communications Director       https://avacta.com/ (https://avacta.com/)

 Peel Hunt (Nomad and Broker)                          www.peelhunt.com (http://www.peelhunt.com)

 James Steel / Chris Golden / Patrick Birkholm

 ICR Consilium

 Mary-Jane Elliott / Jessica Hodgson / Sukaina Virji   avacta@consilium-comms.com (mailto:avacta@consilium-comms.com)

 

 

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

 

Avacta Group is a UK-based life sciences company focused on improving
healthcare outcomes through targeted cancer treatments and diagnostics.

 

Avacta Therapeutics: a clinical stage oncology biotech division that is
harnessing the proprietary pre|CISION platform technology to develop novel,
highly targeted cancer drugs.

 

The pre|CISION™ platform is a highly specific substrate for fibroblast
activation protein (FAP) which is upregulated in most solid tumors compared
with healthy tissues. The pre|CISION™ platform harnesses this tumor specific
protease to cleave pre|CISION™ peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION™
antibody/Affimer(®) drug conjugates in the tumor microenvironment, thus
releasing active payload in the tumor and reducing systemic exposure and
toxicity, allowing dosing to be optimized to deliver the best outcomes for
patients.

 

The lead pre|CISION™ program AVA6000, a peptide drug conjugate form of
doxorubicin, is in Phase 1 studies. It has shown an improvement in safety and
tolerability in clinical trials to date compared with standard doxorubicin and
preliminary signs of clinical activity in multiple patients.

 

Avacta Diagnostics focuses on supporting healthcare professionals and
broadening access to diagnostics.

 

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