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OF ARTICLE 7 OF THE UK VERSION OF REGULATION (EU) NO
596/2014 WHICH IS PART OF UK LAW BY VIRTUE OF
THE EUROPEAN UNION (WITHDRAWAL) ACT 2018, AS AMENDED.
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BE IN THE PUBLIC DOMAIN
Avacta Announces Agreement to
Sell Launch Diagnostics and a Corporate Update
LONDON AND PHILADELPHIA - 07 March
2025 - Avacta Therapeutics (AIM: AVCT, 'the Company'), a life
sciences company developing next generation peptide drug conjugates
(PDC) targeting powerful anti-tumor payloads directly to the tumor,
announces that it has agreed to sell Launch Diagnostics Holdings
Limited ("Launch Diagnostics") and its subsidiaries, its UK-based
and largest diagnostics unit, for £12.9 million in cash to Duomed
Belgium NV, a subsidiary of Palex Healthcare Group S.L.U.
Completion of the sale is expected by the end of April 2025,
subject to customary closing conditions. The sale proceeds will be
used to further Avacta's pre|CISION® platform.
This disposal is a significant step
towards delivering a key Board objective of the Company becoming a
pure-play biotechnology company. In order to complete the
divestment of its diagnostics business operations, Avacta is also
in discussions regarding the sale of its remaining and much smaller
Belgian-headquartered diagnostics unit, Coris BioConcept
SRL.
Launch Diagnostics delivered audited
revenues of £17.9 million and profit after tax of £0.38 million in
the year ended 31 December 2023 and has traded in line with the
Board's expectations during the year ended 31 December 2024. As at
30 June 2024 Launch Diagnostics had unaudited net assets of £13.65
million.
Following the divestment of Launch
Diagnostics, the Company's cash runway will extend into Q1 2026.
In the year ending 31 December 2025,
the Group expects to report a non-cash loss as a result of this
disposal.
Shaun Chilton, Non-Executive
Chairman commented:
"The diversification into diagnostics over the last two years
has been very disappointing. However, this disposal is a critical
and necessary step forward in our corporate strategy to become a
pure-play therapeutics company.
"This disposal, which followed an extensive auction process,
realizes cash to support our growing R&D investment program and
also enables the management to focus on the development of
our unique proprietary pre|CISION®
technology
platform."
Corporate Update
Avacta Therapeutics has made strong
progress, presenting the R&D pipeline, adding critical
experience to the management team, formalizing the strategic
partnership with Tempus and achieving previously stated development
milestones.
AVA6000
The Company has today also
separately announced an update on its lead program, AVA6000, the
first clinical stage asset which is a pre|CISION®-enabled form of
doxorubicin.
Initial proof of concept data with
AVA6000 in the clinic have demonstrated the broad potential of the
pre|CISION® platform and data from our strategic collaboration with Tempus
AI have demonstrated the broad addressable patient populations that
could be targeted with pre|CISION®-enabled
medicines.
Importantly, in the clinic AVA6000
has demonstrated the profile of a
pre|CISION® medicine with three key findings: (1) a significant reduction
in the observed toxicities associated with conventional
doxorubicin, (2) the capacity to shrink tumors with multiple,
durable responses observed in different disease settings with
sensitivity to doxorubicin and (3) the profound concentration of
the active payload (doxorubicin) in the tumor versus the plasma.
Together, these findings in the clinic underscore the potential for
the next assets in the pipeline to be highly differentiated and
have potential for enhanced activity compared with traditional
oncology therapeutics.
AVA6103
AVA6103, the Company's second
program, is a pre|CISION®-enabled PDC comprised of the
pre|CISION peptide linked to exatecan, the most potent
topoisomerase I (topo I) inhibitor in clinical development. The
AVA6103 program has completed candidate selection and is in the
pre-IND preparation stage with GMP manufacturing ongoing for the
Phase 1 trial. The Phase 1 trial of AVA6103 is anticipated to begin
early in 2026.
The Company has seen a dramatic
increase in therapeutic index in preclinical models, suggesting
that AVA6103 could have an unprecedented safety profile in the
clinic. AVA6103 has the potential to treat hundreds of thousands of
patients with the broad use of the topo I drug class and over 90%
of solid tumors expressing FAP.
Other strategic initiatives
The Company continues to explore the
possibility of attaining a dual listing on NASDAQ. Any
definitive decision on if or when to dual list on NASDAQ will
depend on a range of factors including the Group's clinical data
package, SEC approval and wider market conditions. The Board
continues to see a NASDAQ dual listing as a key strategic option
for the Company and also continues to explore all available
pathways to provide optionality for financing its clinical
therapeutics program over the longer term.
-Ends-
For
further information from Avacta, please contact:
About Avacta - www.avacta.com
Avacta Therapeutics is a
clinical-stage life sciences company expanding the reach of highly
potent cancer therapies with the
pre|CISION® platform.
pre|CISION® is a proprietary payload delivery
system based on a
tumor-specific protease (fibroblast activation protein or
FAP) that is designed to concentrate highly potent payloads in
the tumor microenvironment while sparing normal tissues. Our
innovative pipeline consists of pre|CISION® peptide
drug conjugates (PDC) or Affimer® drug conjugates
(AffDC) that leverage the tumor-specific release mechanism,
providing unique benefits over traditional antibody drug
conjugates.
About the pre|CISION® Platform
The pre|CISION® platform
comprises an anticancer payload conjugated to a proprietary peptide
that is a highly specific substrate for fibroblast activation
protein (FAP) which is upregulated in most solid tumors compared
with healthy tissues. The pre|CISION® platform harnesses
this tumor specific protease to cleave pre|CISION®
peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION®
antibody/Affimer® drug conjugates in the tumor
microenvironment, thus releasing active payload in the tumor and
reducing systemic exposure and toxicity, allowing dosing to be
optimized to deliver the best outcomes for patients.
About Palex Healthcare Group S.L.U -
palexhealth.com
Palex is the European benchmark for
advanced solutions in the healthcare sector, with over 70 years of
experience providing tailored technological innovations to
healthcare professionals and researchers. Its purpose is to improve
lives by introducing cutting-edge technology to hospitals,
laboratories, and research centers. Palex's approach ranges from
selecting state-of-the-art products to offering technical support
and specialized training for healthcare and research professionals.
The company operates across various fields, including surgery,
diagnostics, laboratory and critical care, ensuring solutions
adapted to each client's needs. With a presence in multiple
countries, Palex remains strongly committed to quality, innovation,
and sustainability in the healthcare sector. Through its own brands
and strategic partnerships with internationally renowned
manufacturers, Palex positions itself as a key partner in the
evolution of the medical-scientific sector, contributing to
improved efficiency and safety in healthcare.
