Avacta: Biopharmaceuticals firm set for research and development drive after raising £16m
Biopharmaceuticals firm Avacta is set for a research and development drive after the company raised £16m through an equity placing.
The company said it had raised proceeds of around £16m from “institutional and high net worth investors” through a conditional oversubscribed placing of 25 million new ordinary shares.
Avacta said the proceeds from the placing would now be used to progress its research and development programmes in the second half of 2026.
This will include its research into faridoxorubicin, a drug designed to be used in cancer treatment.
Now listed in London and Philadelphia, Avacta was founded as a spinout company from the University of Leeds.
Christina Coughlin, CEO of Avacta, said the move would provide the firm with a “cash runway” into the second half of 2026.
She added: "We are continuing to make good progress across all our programs.
“Our faridoxorubicin trial is gaining momentum, with Phase 1a data presented this weekend at the European Society for Medical Oncology meeting demonstrating a disease control rate in patients treated of 91 per cent.”
The announcement comes after Avacta late last month announced its interim results for the six months ending 30 June.
The firm narrowed its losses during the period, posting an operating loss of £14.18m, down from £14.85m during the same period a year prior.
Revenue remained flat at £0.6m, while the firm said its research costs had, as planned, risen from £6.55m in the first half of 2024 to £7.20m in the first half of 2025.
In a statement issued alongside the results, Ms Coughlin said the firm had continued to make “strong progress” in its research and development pipeline.
She added that the company expects "multiple pipeline updates” in the last quarter of 2025.
In March, Avacta announced that it had sold off its diagnostics division in a bid to become a “pure-play” biotechnology company.
The firm said at that time that it had agreed to sell Launch Diagnostics – the firm’s largest UK-based diagnostics unit – and its subsidiaries for £12.9m.
It made the sale to Duomed Belgium NV, a subsidiary of Palex Healthcare Group.
Avacta then later sold off its smaller, Belgian-based diagnostics unit, Coris BioConcept SRL, last month.
Also last month, Avacta announced that its pre|CISION platform had been shortlisted for the Technology of the Year Award at the AIM Awards.
The platform is aimed at helping patients who are receiving cancer treatments.
Speaking on the award win, Ms Coughlin added: "We are delighted to be on the shortlist for Technology of the Year among companies listed on the AIM market.
“Our pre|CISION technology changes the way that potent cancer therapies are delivered to patients, where the drug is silent in the bloodstream yet active in the tumor, allowing cancer cells to be targeted while preserving patient vitality.”