Chief Executive Officer’s Welcome

Welcome to Avacta’s website for shareholders and investors

“I couldn’t be more excited to be stepping into the role of Chief Executive Officer to drive our innovative platform forward and to shape the future of this Company. We have important work in the near future to deliver on our exciting pipeline including AVA6000, pre|CISION™ and our drug conjugate pipeline. With this robust pipeline, our team is committed to working to deliver real change for patients and value for shareholders.”

Christina Coughlin, Chief Executive Officer

Company Overview

Avacta has two divisions: A clinical stage oncology biotech division harnessing proprietary therapeutic platforms to develop novel, highly targeted cancer drugs, and a diagnostics division focused on supporting healthcare professionals.

Avacta has two proprietary platforms, pre|CISION™ and Affimer®.

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

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

Affimer® is a novel biologic platform which has significant technical and commercial advantages compared with antibodies and can be used both to develop advanced immunotherapies and to improve the performance of immunodiagnostics.

Avacta’s Diagnostics Division comprises two business units – Launch Diagnostics and Coris Bioconcept. Launch Diagnostics is a well-established sales channels in the professional, centralised hospital laboratory testing market in the UK and France. Coris, based in Gembloux, Belgium, develops, manufactures and markets rapid diagnostic test kits, mainly lateral flow tests, for use by healthcare professionals. In the highly competitive diagnostics market, Avacta’s proprietary Affimer® platform has the potential to provide differentiated immunodiagnostic products to gain competitive advantage and grow market share.

With a balanced business and capital allocation model: a high-value oncology pipeline supported by a revenue generating, fast-growing diagnostics business, Avacta seeks to create long-term shareholder value alongside patient benefit.

 

Investment Proposition

Investment opportunity

  • Avacta has two divisions: A clinical stage oncology biotech division harnessing proprietary therapeutic platforms to develop novel, highly targeted cancer drugs, and a diagnostics division focused on supporting healthcare professionals.
  • The Therapeutics Division is leveraging Avacta’s proprietary technologies to develop innovative oncology drugs that transform treatment outcomes to improve cancer patients’ lives.
  • The Diagnostics Division is focused on supporting healthcare professionals and broadening access to testing.

 

Technology platforms

  • Avacta has two proprietary platform technologies – the Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms – which are being used to deliver a robust portfolio of products that address multi-billion dollar markets.
    • The pre|CISION™ platform is a highly specific substrate for fibroblast activation protein (FAP) which is highly upregulated in most solid tumours compared with healthy tissues. The pre|CISION platform harnesses this tumour specific protease to activate pre|CISION peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION antibody drug conjugates in the tumour microenvironment, reducing systemic exposure and toxicity, allowing dosing to be optimised to deliver the best outcomes for patients.
    • Affimer® molecules are engineered alternatives to antibodies that have significant competitive advantages including size, stability, versatility, rapid development and ease of production.

 

Therapeutics Division

  • Avacta Therapeutics’ strategy is to build an in-house pipeline of first-in-class and best-in-class targeted cancer therapies and to accelerate the development of its platform technologies by working with partners.
  • AVA6000, a peptide drug conjugate form of doxorubicin, is in Phase 1 studies. It has shown a dramatic improvement in safety and tolerability compared with standard doxorubicin and preliminary signs of clinical activity in patients with high FAP tumors that are sensitive to anthracyclines.
  • Data from the Phase I trial for the first candidate, AVA6000, confirms the pre|CISIONTM platform’s ability to target a toxin to the tumour microenvironment and transform the safety profile of such cancer therapies.
  • The second pre|CISION™tumour-targeted chemotherapy candidate for development was announced in January 2022 and is a proteasome inhibitor referred to as AVA3996.
  • Preclinical data regarding AVA3996, the second pre|CISION™ programme, a tumour targeted proteasome inhibitor, were presented at the American Association of Cancer Research Annual Meeting in April, and at AACR-NCI-EORTC International Conference on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in October along with data from other research programmes.
  • Additional pre|CISIONTM targeted cancer therapies are being developed in the pre-clinical pipeline and have not yet been publicly disclosed.
  • There is also significant longer-term potential to combine Avacta’s two platforms to create next generation targeted ‘drug conjugate’ cancer treatments.
  • AffyXell Therapeutics (“AffyXell”), the joint venture between Avacta and Daewoong Pharmaceutical (“Daewoong”) continued to progress well with the triggering of a second milestone payment. This resulted in an increase in Avacta’s shareholding in AffyXell to approximately 25%.
  • The growing body of clinical and pre-clinical data validating the pre|CISIONTM platform has supported an acceleration in the Group’s commercial activities including the appointment of Dr Simon Bennett as Chief Business Officer of the Therapeutics Division.

 

Diagnostics Division

  • Avacta’s Diagnostics Division completed the acquisition of Belgium-based Coris Bioconcept SRL, a developer and manufacturer of rapid tests focused on infectious diseases, on 1 June 2023 for an upfront consideration of £7.3 million with an earnout based on future business performance of up to £3.0 million payable in cash, adding a broad range of marketed professional-use rapid tests to the Division.
  • The Diagnostics Division, which also includes Launch Diagnostics, a leading UK IVD distributor that was acquired in October 2022, reports revenue of £21.2 million and an adjusted EBITDA loss of £1.96 million.
  • The Group’s strategy is to divest the Diagnostics Division to create a pure-play oncology biopharmaceutical company in a manner which maximises value and strategic benefits for shareholders.

With a balanced business and capital allocation model: a high-value oncology pipeline supported by a revenue generating, fast-growing diagnostics business, Avacta seeks to create long-term shareholder value alongside patient benefit.