Avacta expands joint venture to treat seriously ill Covid patients

Wetherby-based Avacta and its South Korean partner are also preparing to rapidly develop similar therapies for future global pandemics.

Avacta said respiratory diseases such as Covid-19 can cause serious damage to the lungs as a consequence of over-activation of the patient's immune system, resulting in cytokine release syndrome that can potentially lead to multiple organ failure and death.

It said stem cell therapies offer a very promising approach to repair the damage to lung tissues in these pulmonary diseases by controlling the immune balance.

Avacta and Daewoong have set up a gene therapy joint venture called AffyXell Therapeutics to develop a new class of mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) treatments that are engineered to produce Affimer therapies in the patient. Affimers are Avacta's high-tech alternative to antibodies.

The expansion of the agreement extends the scope of the partnership to include Affimer molecules that target viruses, such as coronaviruses, in order to develop therapies that repair the lung damage caused by Covid-19 whilst also producing neutralising Affimer molecules to prevent the progression of the disease.

Dr Alastair Smith, chief executive of Avacta, said: "I am very pleased to have extended our collaboration and license agreement with Daewoong Pharmaceutical to include the SARS-COV-2 neutralising Affimer molecules for the treatment of Covid-19 and to create the potential to respond very rapidly in future to global virus threats.

"AffyXell will address the need over the coming years for advanced stem cell therapies to treat lung damage caused by cytokine release syndrome suffered by Covid-19 patients and, at the same time, help prevent disease progression in these patients through the action of a neutralising Affimer therapy.

"We, and our partners in South Korea, are very excited by the potential to develop life improving treatments for patients with these serious respiratory diseases as well as Covid-19."