REG - Avacta Group PLC - Avacta Unveils Pipeline Expansion at EORTC 2024

AvactaAnnouncement

10/10/2024 07:00

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RNS Number : 6219H  Avacta Group PLC  10 October 2024

 

10 October 2024

 

 

Avacta Group plc

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

 

Avacta to Unveil Pipeline Expansion and Novel, Next-Generational Targeted
Cancer Therapy Programs at 2024 EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium

 

LONDON, UK, 10 OCT 2024, Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company
developing innovative, targeted cancer treatments, today announced that the
Company will present new preclinical data on two breakthroughs in the
pre|CISION™ platform in poster sessions at the 2024 EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium
on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Barcelona, Spain from 23-25
October 2024. Together, the presentations advance the utility of our
pre|CISION™ drug delivery platform technology, which delivers highly potent
warheads directly to the tumor microenvironment while minimizing exposure in
normal tissues, thus allowing dosing to be optimized to deliver the best
outcomes for patients.

The first advance in the pre|CISION™ platform is the design and preclinical
analysis of the Company's newest development candidate, AVA6103, a novel,
potent peptide drug conjugate (PDC) that FAP-enables the most potent
Topoisomerase I inhibitor in clinical testing, via the pre|CISION™
technology with tumor-specific delivery of the warhead to induce DNA damage
and drive cancer cell death. AVA6103 is a Generation Two pre|CISION™ PDC in
the Avacta pipeline.

The second advance in the pre|CISION™ platform is the first description of a
novel class of engineered biotherapeutics, called Affirmer(®) Drug
Conjugates, that are dual-targeting and have the potential to offer a delivery
mechanism with greater specificity than the PDC, thus potentially unlocking
the patient populations with low expression of FAP in the tumor. This program
is a Generation Three pre|CISION™ medicine and utilizes the same release
mechanism in the pre|CISION™ platform. Based on this, the Affimer drug
conjugates have the potential to not only increase the specificity of delivery
but to also minimize systemic exposure to the warhead.

AVA6103: FAP-enabled PDC Targeting Topoisomerase I to the Tumor
Microenvironment

Avacta discovered AVA6103 using its pre|CISION™ platform technology and
structure-based drug design. AVA6103 incorporates a dipeptide that is
specifically cleaved by Fibroblast Activation Protein α (FAP), which is
overexpressed on the surface of cancer associated fibroblasts. AVA6103
consists of a highly potent Topoisomerase I warhead that is covalently linked
to a dipeptide containing a cleaving sequence susceptible to hydrolysis by
FAP, but which is resistant to hydrolysis by mammalian peptidases. The high
selectivity of the pre|CISION™ substrate to FAP results in release of the
topoisomerase inhibitor warhead only in the tumor microenvironment, which
could potentially reduce systemic exposure and enable greater tolerability.
Avacta will present in vivo data that demonstrates the ability to target and
accumulate the active warhead in the tumor microenvironment, resulting in
tumor growth inhibition with AVA6103.

Details of the poster are as follows:

·    Abstract Title: The novel peptide drug conjugate AVA6103 is a
FAP-enabled pre|CISION™ medicine which targets Topoisomerase I to the tumor
microenvironment via FAP cleavage

·    Session Title: Antibody Drug Conjugate Therapeutics

·    Session Date: October 24, 2024

 

Affirmer® Drug Conjugates: New Class of Engineered Biotherapeutics Targeting
FAP to Deliver Powerful Warheads to the Tumor Microenvironment

Avacta has created Affimer® Drug Conjugates (AFFDCs) as a novel class of
engineering biotherapeutics that incorporate a topoisomerase inhibitor for
delivery specifically in the tumor microenvironment. AFFDCs are designed with
several key advantages over monoclonal antibodies, including significant
smaller size, tumor penetration, tunable binding affinity to specific cancer
targets and the ability to be dimerized. Avacta will present data supporting
that exposure of tumor cell line or fibroblast cell co-cultures to AFFDCs
results in drug cleavage, release of the warhead and tumor cell kill as a
bystander function.

Details of the poster presentations are as follows:

·    Abstract Title: Affimer(®) Drug Conjugates targeting Fibroblast
Activation Protein α  deliver highly toxic warheads to the tumor
microenvironment by leveraging the pre|CISION™ release mechanism

·    Session Title: Antibody Drug Conjugate Therapeutics

·    Session Date and Time: October 24, 2024

 

-Ends-

 

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

 

 Avacta Group plc                                      Tel: +44 (0) 1904 21 7070

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

 Director

 Peel Hunt (Nomad and Broker)

 James Steel / Chris Golden / Patrick Birkholm         www.peelhunt.com (http://www.peelhunt.com/)

 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.

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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