REG - Avacta Group PLC - Appointment of CSO

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RNS Number : 1433S  Avacta Group PLC  09 February 2026

 

Avacta appoints Francis Wilson as Chief Scientific Officer

 

LONDON and PHILADELPHIA - February 9, 2026 - Avacta Therapeutics (AIM: AVCT,
"the Company", "Avacta"), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company
developing pre|CISION(®), a tumor-activated oncology delivery platform, has
appointed Francis Wilson as its Chief Scientific Officer.

 

Since joining Avacta in September 2022 as Vice President of Chemistry, Francis
has demonstrated his extensive expertise and experience in the chemistry
field, particularly in the development of the Company's pre|CISION(®)
platform. Francis has been instrumental in the development of novel
intellectual property around the pre|CISION(®) mechanism, notably the
sustained release mechanism that forms the backbone of the FAP-Exd (AVA6103)
program that is anticipated to begin clinical testing in the near term.  He
has also established himself as an industry leader in medicinal chemistry, a
valued external speaker for the Company, and a strong team leader within the
Avacta organization.

 

Before Avacta, Francis held various positions across the medicinal chemistry
sector, including being a Research Scientist at Roche Discovery Welwyn from
1990-2001, Head of Chemistry at Xenova (2001-2003), Director of Chemistry at
Cellzome (2003-2007) and Director of Chemistry at Summit Therapeutics
(2007-2022) where he led multiple programs from discovery into clinical
development.

 

Francis has a chemistry degree and holds a Doctor of Philosophy degree from
Oxford University and is a Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society
of Chemistry.

 

Along with this leadership change, former CSO Michelle Morrow will be leaving
Avacta to pursue another opportunity. The Company thanks her for her
contributions and wishes her success in the future.

 

Christina Coughlin, CEO of Avacta Therapeutics commented,

 

"Francis is the ideal person to take us forward, both internally and across
our industry, given his deep knowledge of the working of our unique
pre|CISION(®) platform. Francis has demonstrated his keen ability to foster
an environment of innovation, and this has been instrumental in developing
significant advances in the options for our pre|CISION(®) platform to be used
in the clinic. As Avacta enters a period of potentially significant
preclinical development and intellectual property generation, we look forward
to leveraging Francis' expertise and leadership in the drug development
arena."

 

"In addition to his leadership internally, he has also been a key member of
the team positioning our business across the international drug development
sector. Francis is a well-known leader in medicinal chemistry externally and
we are looking forward to forging the next chapter of pre|CISION(®) with his
scientific leadership and expertise. We also extend our well wishes to
Michelle in the next chapter of her career and thank her for her contributions
to Avacta."

 

Francis Wilson, CSO of Avacta added:

 

"I am thrilled to step into this role and look forward to partnering with
Chris and the Management Team to move Avacta forward to our next chapter.
Seeing AVA6103 - the molecule we invented - move to the clinic is a huge
success for the Company. We will learn more about this program in the clinic
and apply that as we continue to develop novel intellectual property around
our highly successful pre|CISION(®) platform."

 

-Ends-

 

For further information from Avacta, please contact:

 

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

 Christina Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer        via Cohesion Bureau

 Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated Adviser)          www.strandhanson.co.uk (http://www.strandhanson.co.uk)

 James Harris / Chris Raggett / James Dance

 Zeus (Broker)                                      www.zeuscapital.co.uk (http://www.zeuscapital.co.uk)

 James Hornigold / George Duxberry / Dominic King

 Cohesion Bureau (Communications)                   avacta@cohesionbureau.com (mailto:avacta@cohesionbureau.com)

 Richard Jarvis / Chris Maggos

 

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

Avacta Therapeutics is a clinical-stage life sciences company expanding the
reach of highly potent cancer therapies with the pre|CISION(®) platform.
pre|CISION(®) is a proprietary payload delivery system based on a
tumor-specific protease (fibroblast activation protein or FAP) that is
designed to concentrate highly potent payloads in the tumor microenvironment
while sparing normal tissues.

 

Our innovative pipeline consists of pre|CISION(®) peptide drug conjugates
(PDC) or Affimer® drug conjugates (AffDC) that leverage the tumor-specific
release mechanism, providing unique benefits over traditional antibody drug
conjugates.

 

The pre|CISION(®) platform comprises an anticancer payload conjugated to a
proprietary peptide that 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.

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