Chief Executive Officer’s Welcome

Welcome to Avacta’s website for shareholders and investors

Our mission is to improve patients’ lives and grow shareholder value by developing novel cancer therapies and powerful diagnostics using our proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION platforms. Clear communication of our corporate objectives and keeping our shareholders up to date with progress, as well as informing potential new investors about the investment opportunity, is at the core of our communications programme. I hope you find the information you are looking for and welcome any feedback

ALASTAIR SMITH, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Company Overview

Avacta Group plc is a life sciences company working to improve people’s health and well-being through innovative oncology drugs and powerful diagnostics. Operating through two divisions, Diagnostics and Therapeutics, the Group’s mission is to provide professionals and consumers with solutions that improve healthcare, fitness and well-being.

Avacta’s Therapeutics Division, a clinical stage oncology drug innovator, is building a wholly owned pipeline of novel Affimer® immunotherapies and pre|CISION™ tumour targeted chemotherapies. This approach is designed to address the lack of a durable response to current cancer immunotherapies experienced by most patients and reduce the severe systemic toxicities caused by chemotherapies. There are five programmes in the pipeline as well as several global research collaborations and licensing partnerships. Avacta’s lead programme, AVA6000, is a preCISION™ tumour-targeted form of the established chemotherapy doxorubicin. AVA6000 is in Phase I clinical trials in patients with locally advanced or metastatic selected solid tumours.

The Affimer® platform is an alternative to antibodies that has been designed to address many of the drawbacks of antibodies which, despite their shortcomings, currently dominate the immuno-diagnostics and immuno-therapeutics markets.

The pre|CISION™ tumour targeting platform can be used to modify a chemotherapy in order to selectively release the active drug in tumour tissue thereby reducing the systemic exposure that causes damage to healthy tissues. pre|CISION™ modified chemotherapies are designed to reduce the side effects and improve the overall safety and therapeutic potential of these powerful anti-cancer treatments.

Avacta’s Diagnostics Division develops and supplies a broad range of in-vitro diagnostic (IVD) solutions. The Division is growing rapidly through an M&A strategy to deliver a global scale IVD business providing market leading solutions for healthcare professionals and consumers to inform treatment and monitor health and well-being. In October 2022, Avacta acquired Launch Diagnostics which serves the hospital pathology laboratory market in the UK and Europe. Avacta Diagnostic’s research and development centre in Wetherby, UK uses its proprietary Affimer® platform to differentiate immunodiagnostic products to provide marketing leading performance.

 

Investment Proposition

  • Avacta’s proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms are delivering a robust portfolio of differentiated therapeutic and diagnostic products that address multiple multi-billion dollar markets.
  • Affimer® molecules are engineered alternatives to antibodies that have significant competitive advantages including size, stability, versatility, rapid development and ease of production. Despite their shortcomings, antibodies currently dominate markets, such as diagnostics and therapeutics, worth in excess of $100 billion.
  • The pre|CISION™ targeted chemotherapy platform releases active chemotherapy directly in the tumour, limiting systemic exposure and side effects associated with many commonly used cancer treatments. The Phase I trial for the first candidate, AVA6000, started in August 2021 and FDA approval of its Investigational New Drug (‘IND’) application was announced in November 2021. In January 2023 the Company announced that it had completed the fourth dose escalation cohort that has received an equivalent dose of more than double the normal dose of doxorubicin. The safety and tolerability data are very favourable and the Safety Data Monitoring Committee has recommended that the study proceed to higher dose cohorts to determined a Maximum Tolerated Dose (“MTD”). Additionally, analysis of biopsy data has indicated that the active chemotherapy, doxorubicin, is being released from AVA6000 in the tumour tissue at therapeutically relevant levels confirming the tumour targeting potential of the pre|CISIONTM platform. The Phase Ia dose escalation study is expected to complete in the middle of 2023 and the Phase Ib dose expansion study to commence shortly afterwards.
  • There is also significant longer term potential to combine the two platforms to create next generation targeted ‘drug conjugate’ cancer treatments.
  • The platforms are also being developed through leading industry partnerships including LG Chem, Daewoong Pharmaceutical and POINT Biopharma.
  • The second pre|CISIONTM tumour targeted chemotherapy candidate for development was announced in January 2022 and is a proteasome inhibitor referred to as AVA3996. The Company plans to generate additional Affimer® and pre|CISION™ drug development candidates in 2023, to further support its growing, innovative therapeutic pipeline.
  • The Diagnostics Division has a platform and an experienced management team to execute an M&A led strategy to build a leading European IVD business.
  • Integrating the unique Affimer platform to develop new immunodiagnostic products and to help differentiate acquired products gives a clear advantage in a competitive market.
  • Initiating its M&A-led growth strategy in October 2022, Avacta completed the acquisition of UK-based IVD distributor Launch Diagnostics (“Launch”) which has provided Avacta with well-established sales channels in the professional, centralised hospital laboratory testing market in the UK and France.
  • Avacta Diagnostics continues to actively pursue other opportunities that add the other pieces of the jigsaw to build a fully integrated diagnostics business. These focus on expanding our routes to market in Europe for both professional and consumer testing products, while adding further IVD products suitable for these markets to our portfolio.
  • With its strong balance sheet, the Group expects to deliver major value inflection points from its well-funded therapeutic programmes over the next twelve months and deliver M&A-led growth in its its diagnostic business, driving long-term shareholder value.
  • The Group also anticipates further commercial partnerships and license arrangements that will allow its technology platforms to be further developed leading to long term royalty based revenue in both the therapeutics and other markets.

Key Objectives 2023-2025

  • Complete the phase I clinical study for AVA6000 FAP-activated doxorubicin.
  • Leverage the AVA6000 clinical data to commercialise the broader preCISIONTM platform through licensing whilst retaining AVA6000 as a wholly owned asset.
  • Expand the number of fully funded partnerships and licensing deals for the Affimer® therapeutic platform.
  • Demonstrate safety and tolerability of the Affimer® platform by progressing the first Affimer® into the clinic as quickly as possible with partners and through in-house programmes.
  • Grow the Diagnostics Division through M&A to build a profitable European IVD business serving both healthcare professionals and consumers.