Avacta doubles facilities as more'¨drug firms turn to its products

DIAGNOSTICS SPECIALIST Avacta'‹'‹, which makes devices to speed up and reduce the cost of drug development, has doubled the size of its operations with the opening of two new facilities in Wetherby and Cambridge.

Wetherby-based Avacta said the ​investment will double the ​company’s overall footprint to 18,500 sq ft and will include new state-of-the-art laboratory facilities.

The new laboratories and office space ​will ​enable operations at both sites to expand to meet increasing commercial demands and accommodate Avacta’s growing ​research and development​ programme.

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​​In Wetherby, the Thorp Arch Estate has provided a new 13,000 sq ft building which​ ​Avacta has fitted with offices and laboratories accommodating around 60 ​full time equivalent staff.​

The new Cambridge site is located on the Lion Works Business Park and covers 5,500 sq ft, of which ​around ​70​ per cent will​ house laboratories.​

Alastair Smith, ​c​hief ​e​xecutive ​of Avacta, said: “I am delighted with the new labs that the ​c​ompany now has in place in Wetherby and Cambridge. “​The teams will be working in truly world class facilities that will also help in attracting talented new staff and will present the ​c​ompany well to potential customers and partners.”

Avacta​​ is making great strides towards commercialising its devices and recently announced a collaboration with medical firm Glythera to develop a new cancer drug.

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Avacta said the new drug has the potential to be a superior alternative to an established class of drug called antibody drug conjugates (ADCs). It is estimated that the ADC market could be worth $10bn by 2024.

ADCs are a hybrid drug consisting of an antibody that targets cancer​​ attached to a toxin or chemotherapy that is released only once the drug is in the cancerous cell.

​At the moment the antibodies can be difficult to produce, do not target ​the ​cancer cell perfectly and the payload can be released prematurely leading to unwanted side effects.

The collaboration is designed to overcome the issues and restrictions with using current antibody technologies​.

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Avacta​ said its ​affimers​ (its high-tech alternative to antibodies​)​​ have the potential to improve cancer cell penetration and have a short development time, while Glythera’s PermaLink technology can provide high stability links between the​ affimer and drug, and reduce toxicity effects.​

Avacta​ has reported​ strong progress in pre-clinical trials of ​a​ffimers​ and ​the technology is being evaluated by​ a number of​ large pharma and biotechs, including four of the ten largest pharma companies.

The group said that as it commercialises its Affimer technology, the variety and structure of commercial agreements is becoming clearer.

Avacta has started a key collaboration with Dr Ramzi Ajjan at the Leeds General Infirmary to carry out pre-clinical characterisation of ​a​ffimer drug candidates that modulate blood clotting in pre-clinical models.

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Avacta reported a 19 per cent increase in ​revenue ​​to £2.15m​ ​​for the year ​to​ July 31, in line with market expectations.

Dr Smith​ ​said: “We have made good progress in the key areas that we set out at the half year, in our detailed strategy for commercialisation of affimer reagents for research, diagnostics and therapeutics.

“There are a significant number of affimer technology evaluations now ongoing and we continue to grow the pipeline of such partnerships that will ultimately deliver a stream of ‘affimer powered’ products.​”

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