REG - Avacta Group PLC - LG Chem renews license triggers payment to Avacta

AvactaAnnouncement

30/06/2022 07:16

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RNS Number : 7236Q  Avacta Group PLC  30 June 2022

30 June 2022

 

Avacta Group plc

 

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

 

LG Chem renews license triggering payment to Avacta

 

LG Chem will now proceed with Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies
for Affimer PD-L1 antagonist programme

 

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, is pleased to announce
that LG Chem Life Sciences (LG Chem), the life sciences division of the South
Korean LG Group, has exercised its renewal option as part of the ongoing
collaboration with Avacta, triggering a license renewal fee payment to Avacta
of $2 million.

 

Under the terms of the agreement, LG Chem has the exclusive rights to develop
and commercialise, on a global basis, Avacta's Affimer(®) PD-L1 inhibitor
with Affimer XT(™) serum half-life extension for a range of indications. LG
Chem has exercised its license renewal option and will progress the PD-L1/XT
candidate by commencing pre-clinical studies which are intended to form the
basis of an Investigational New Drug (IND) submission.

 

In December 2018, Avacta and LG Chem entered into a multi-target development
agreement to develop Affimer(®) therapeutics in several disease areas. In
2020 the companies agreed to expand this drug development partnership to
include Avacta's Affimer XT(®) technology, which can be used to control the
time a drug spends in the blood.

 

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

"I am very pleased with the progress being made by our partners LG Chem with
the Affimer PD-L1 checkpoint inhibitor programme, which includes the Affimer
XT serum half-life extension technology. The initiation of IND enabling
studies represents a significant step towards first-in-human clinical trials
of the Affimer platform, which is a key value driver for the technology and
for Avacta."

 

- 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                                              Tel: +44 (0) 1904 21 7070

 Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer                       www.avacta.com (http://www.avacta.com)

 Tony Gardiner, Chief Financial Officer

 Michael Vinegrad, Group Communications Director

 Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nomad and Broker)             Tel: +44 (0) 207 710 7600

 Nicholas Moore / Nick Adams / Fred Walsh / Nicholas Harland   www.stifel.com (http://www.stifel.com/)

 FTI Consulting (Financial Media and IR)                       Tel: +44(0) 203 727 1000

 Simon Conway / Alex Shaw / George Kendrick                    Avacta.LS@fticonsulting.com (mailto:Avacta.LS@fticonsulting.com)

 Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media)                Tel: +44 (0)7891 477 378

 Lily Jeffery                                                  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, 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.

 

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(http://www.avacta.com/investor-news-email-alerts)

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