Who are Avacta?

Avacta has two divisions: A clinical stage oncology biotech division – based at a cutting edge site in Scale Space, White City, London – 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|CISION^TM platform harnesses this tumor specific protease to activate pre|CISION^TM peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION^TM antibody/Affimer^® drug conjugates in the tumor 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.

“What drives us all at Avacta is a desire to improve people’s health. In particular we are excited about the potential of pre|CISION to deliver safer, better tolerated and more effective targeted cancer treatments that improve outcomes for patients and their quality of life whilst on treatment.”

Alastair Smith, CEO Avacta.