Avacta reaches major milestone

Diagnostics specialist Avacta'‹'‹ reported '‹'excellent' results from its latest study of Affimer technology, the firm's alternative to antibodies, in what it called a major milestone for the company.
Alistair Smith, CEO of AvactaAlistair Smith, CEO of Avacta
Alistair Smith, CEO of Avacta

The Wetherby-based firm said the latest research assess​ed whether its Affimer technology produced an unwanted immune response to a drug which could lead to ​reduced effectiveness and serious adverse side effects.

The research showed that Affimer technology performed very well and produced similar results to multi-billion dollar drug Avastin, an approved antibody used in cancer treatment.

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The firm said the research opens up the multi-billion dollar biotherapeutics market.

The ​c​ompany has now completed the first major study of Affimer technology using samples from ​50​ healthy volunteers. Multiple versions of the Affimer technology were tested in the study and benchmarked against the marketed antibody Avastin.

All versions of the Affimer scaffold showed a low response in these industry-standard tests comparable to Avastin​.

Avacta's CEO Dr Alastair Smith said: “This excellent data significantly de-risks the Affimer technology as a therapeutic platform addressing the multi-billion dollar biotherapeutics market and is a major milestone and value inflection point for the company.

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​"​I am delighted that the results of this extensive study shows unequivocally that none of the Affimer scaffolds induce a significant immunogenic response. This bodes well for their further development as therapeutics​.​

​"T​his significant progress supports both our conversations with potential pharma partners and our objective to take the first Affimer candidate into clinical development in 2019.”

Analyst Mark Brewer at FinnCap said: "The keenly awaited immunogenicity data was even better than expected, de-risking the Affimer platform and marking a significant data point that will be of substantial interest to potential partners. Our target price remains 200p."

In a separate announcement, Avacta said r​evenue ​rose 20​ per cent​ to £1.3m​ in the six months to January 31​​.

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The group made an operating loss £3.9m, up from £2m the previous year, with research and development costs increasing to £1.3m from £500,000.

The group had a cash balance of £16.1m at the end of the first half.

Mr Brewer said: "Avacta reported interim results slightly ahead of expectations.

​"​Higher-than-expected net cash (£16.1m) and lower capitalised development costs point to a longer than expected cash runway, extending well into 2019 and well past potentially significant value inflection points that should culminate in its first Affimer therapeutic entering the clinic in 2019.​"​

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Dr Smith said the group has made significant progress with its therapeutics programme, reporting positive results from the first in vivo studies.

​"​We also continue to demonstrate the differentiating strengths of our Affimer technology in other key applications and this is now translating into a growing custom Affimer order book and paid-for commercial evaluations​," he added​.

​"​We remain confident that this could lead to the first license deal for an Affimer reagent in 2017.

​"​We expect to report on a number of significant value inflection points in the coming months and we look forward to keeping the market informed of our progress.”

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