Avacta Group PLC Diagnostics firm take rights to several Affimers (0419D)
April 24 2017 - 1:00AM
UK Regulatory
TIDMAVCT
RNS Number : 0419D
Avacta Group PLC
24 April 2017
24 April 2017
Avacta Group plc
("Avacta" or "the Group" or "the Company")
Top three global diagnostics company takes exclusive rights to
several Affimer reagents
Important value inflection point validating commercial potential
of Affimer technology and Company's business model
Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the developer of Affimer(R)
biotherapeutics and research reagents, is pleased to report that an
evaluation of the Affimer technology by a large, global diagnostics
developer has concluded successfully and that the third party has
taken exclusive rights to several Affimer reagents for an
undisclosed sum.
The Company has adopted a licensing business model for its
Affimer technology and has, over the past year, established a
number of paid-for evaluations of the technology by third parties
with a view to securing commercial agreements to develop Affimer
based products. This is the first such evaluation to conclude and
it has led to an agreement to provide exclusivity for certain
Affimers which are relevant in a large diagnostic market. This is
an important commercial step and a validation of the significant
potential of the licensing business model.
Details of the commercial terms and the proposed use of the
Affimer reagents cannot be disclosed due to confidentiality.
Dr Alastair Smith, Avacta Group Chief Executive Officer,
commented:
"We believe this deal is a key value inflection point for the
Company. We have provided numerous Affimer reagents to customers
for in-house research use, but this the first successful conclusion
of a technical evaluation of the Affimer technology leading to the
third party taking exclusive rights to certain Affimers with
product development in mind. This is fundamental to the licensing
business model that underpins the future growth of the Affimer
reagents business and as such this first deal is hugely important
commercial progress.
Securing the first agreement arising from the successful
conclusion of an Affimer technology evaluation was an objective
that we set for 2017 and so I am delighted to be able to report
that we have hit this milestone early in the year. I look forward
to reporting on further such successes in the near future as well
as reporting on progress in our Affimer therapeutic
programmes."
ENDS
For further information from Avacta Group plc, please
contact:
Avacta Group plc Tel: +44 (0) 844 414
Alastair Smith, Chief Executive 0452
Officer www.avacta.com
Tony Gardiner, Chief Financial
Officer
finnCap Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 207 220
Geoff Nash / Giles Rolls - 0500
Nominated Adviser www.finncap.com
Tim Redfern / Alice Lane -
Corporate Broking
Tel: +44 (0) 203 705
WG Partners 9318
Nigel Birks / Nigel Barnes Tel: +44 (0) 203 705
David Wilson / Claes Spang 9217
www.wgpartners.co.uk
Zyme Communications (Trade Tel: +44 (0)7787 502
and Regional Media) 947
Katie Odgaard katie.odgaard@zymecommunications.com
FTI Consulting (Financial Tel: +44 (0) 203 727
Media and IR) 1000
Simon Conway / Natalie Garland-Collins avacta@fticonsulting.com
About Avacta Group plc (www.avacta.com)
Avacta's principal focus is on its proprietary Affimer(R)
technology which is a novel engineered alternative to antibodies
that has wide application in Life Sciences for diagnostics,
therapeutics and general research and development.
Antibodies dominate markets worth in excess of $50bn despite
their shortcomings. Affimer technology has been designed to address
many of these negative performance issues, principally; the time
taken to generate new antibodies, the reliance on an animal's
immune response, poor specificity in many cases, and batch to batch
variability. Affimer technology is based on a small protein that
can be quickly generated to bind with high specificity and affinity
to a wide range of protein targets.
Avacta has a pre-clinical biotech development programme with an
in-house focus on immuno-oncology and bleeding disorders as well as
partnered development programmes. Avacta is commercialising
non-therapeutic Affimer reagents through licensing to developers of
life sciences research tools and diagnostics.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
END
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