Key information

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Our Mission

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.

Investment Opportunity

  • Avacta operates through two separate divisions in both the oncology drug development market and the diagnostics sector.
  • The diagnostics division is growing through an M&A led strategy with a vision to build a European IVD business with global reach serving both professionals and consumers.
  • The therapeutics division is leveraging Avacta’s proprietary technologies to develop innovative oncology drugs that transform treatment outcomes to improve cancer patients’ lives.

Technology Platforms

  • Avacta’s has two proprietary platform technologies – the Affimer®and pre|CISION™ platforms – which are being used to deliver a robust portfolio of differentiated therapeutic and diagnostic products that address 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™ platform provides a mechanism for targeting the release of active chemotherapy to the tumour, thereby reducing systemic exposure and the side effects associated with many commonly used cancer treatments the effectiveness of which is limited by toxicity and tolerability for patients.

 

Therapeutics Division

  • Avacta Therapeutics’ strategy is to build an in-house pipeline of first-in-class and best-in-class targeted cancer therapies and immunotherapies, and to accelerate the development of its platform technologies by working with partners.
  • 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. The Phase Ia dose escalation study is expected to complete in 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 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 candidates to grow its innovative therapeutic pipeline.
  • Avacta has a partnership with LG Chem which is developing Avacta’s AVA004 PD-L1 antagonist with Affimer XT® half-life extension. Avacta also has a joint venture with Daewoong Pharamceutical called AffyXell which is developing next generation stem cell therapies that have been engineered to express and secrete immunomodulatory Affimer proteins targeting CD40L and TNFR. Both partnerships’ first programmes are at the IND enabling stage.
  • Avacta has also licensed its pre|CISIONTM platform in a tightly defined agreement with POINT Biopharma to develop tumour microenvironment targeting of radionucleotides.

 

Diagnostics Division

  • There are many factors driving growth in the diagnostic sector such as an aging population, the increasing incidence of chronic and infectious diseases, the influence of tech companies through digital health and devices and the increase in awareness of self-testing in a post-pandemic world.
  • The diagnostics sector is quite fragmented with a large number of small and medium sized companies which provides ideal conditions for an M&A led growth strategy to consolidate European diagnostics SMEs in a market with strong future growth drivers.
  • The Group 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.

 

Significant Shareholdings

Current significant shareholders are as follows:

Conifer Management, LLC 4.4%

Baillie Gifford & Co Limited 3.7%

As at 22nd January 2024 the company has 287,956,207 ordinary shares of 10p each in issue.

1.5% of the ordinary shares of the Company are not held in public hands.

Avacta Group has not applied or agreed to have any of its securities (including its AIM securities) admitted or traded on any other exchanges or trading platforms.

There are no restrictions on the transfer of Avacta Group plc’s AIM securities.

Avacta Group plc is subject to the UK City Code on Takeovers and Mergers.

Avacta Group plc is incorporated in the United Kingdom and its principal place of operation is the United Kingdom.

This information was last updated on 22nd January 2024. 

Directors

Dr Alastair Smith
Mr Tony Gardiner
Dr Eliot Forster
Dr Trevor Nicholls
Mr Paul Fry
Dr Mark Goldberg
Dr Christina Coughlin
Mr Shaun Chilton

Advisors

Joint Broker and Nomad – Stifel, 150 Cheapside, London, EC2V 6ET
Joint Broker – Peel Hunt, 100 Liverpool Street, London, EC2M 2AT.
Auditor – BDO LLP, Newton House, Cambridge Business Park, Cambridge, CB4 0WZ
Solicitor – Walker Morris, 33 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 4DL
Registrar – Link Group, Central Square, 29 Wellington Street, Leeds, LS1 4DL. www.signalshares.com
Investor and Media Relations – Consilium Strategic Communications, 85 Gresham Street, London, EC2V 7NQ. www.consilium-comms.com