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Affimers are not the same as antibodies.
Antibodies took time to be used in therapies. A long time.
Google it
Affimers are interesting and could be used in a similay way.
That they can be used in a test is not the same as a therapy “in principle”. They might be lethal, testing takes time.
A deal may well get done, but I would have thought it would involve funding different stages with milestone payments.
Why do you think that affimers are
A) better than antibodies currently under test
B) better than compounds blocking the same path
C) faster to bring to market given they have never been used in animals let alone humans.
D) better than plasma therapy
Bit of a negative view, but reasonable expectations still point to a great investment. Strong buy but not for the house built from one brick.
If the professor is right, I'd say it is probable that Avct are in active talks
Given the excellent performance of these novel reagents in the assays, and the other benefits of Affimer reagents, there should be considerable interest from potential partners in developing them as a therapy for COVID-19.”
T. L. The affirmer bind to the virus, stopping it from binding to anything else. Therefore Neutralising it.
Would love for Avacta to drop an rns to inform that they are in active discussions with several unnamed parties.
Thanks for the link BBN - that was a great piece of research. It was 12 days after Vir announced the independent lab verification by two labs of their antibodies blocking live virus that they announced a deal. Avacta announced independent verification of blocking a model virus by one lab on June 18th - not quite as far advanced as the aforementioned Vir announcement, but it is now 19 days past that point.
More from that Astra Zenica announcement ;
"Based on these pre-clinical results, the Company has signed an exclusive license to six candidate antibodies currently in Vanderbilt’s portfolio that target the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Two mAbs from these six will progress into clinical evaluation as a combination approach within the next two months."
From the latest AVCT diagnostic test performance video (7 mins 50s).
"33 Affimer reagents that bind SARS-COV-2 spike protein and also inhibit the interaction with ACE2"
AVCT didn't just find one or two possible candidates, they found 33.
What does that say about the quality of the best candidates in that very large number? What does that say about a deal getting over the line?
https://avacta.com/how-diagnostic-test-performance-is-measured/
Ugh, you’re right Timster, missed opportunity, there’s just so many imminent price inflection points I’ve become a bit nonchalant.
@gmcc Thank you.
The following article is from Astra Zenica themselves, you know that famous big pharma that is apparently going to deliver the killer blow to Covid by Autumn.
Its dated 9th June and talks about their "coronavirus-neutralising antibodies" and their "plans to advance a pair of these mAbs into clinical development as a potential combination therapy for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19."
Astra Zenicas Executive Vice President, BioPharmaceuticals R&D, Mene Pangalos ;
"By combining two monoclonal antibodies that bind to distinct parts of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein into what potentially could be a single preventative therapy, we hope to improve its effectiveness in neutralising the virus."
AVCT RNS dated 11th May ;
"Affimer reagents that can work in pairs, both binding to the spike protein at the same time. This allows tests to be developed that detect both the intact virus particle and the detached spike proteins which become separated from the virus particle during the development of the COVID-19 disease, which may also be important in monitoring disease progression."
Comments made about the test but the principle is the same.
If Astra Zenica, the manufacturer of the most advanced vaccine candidate in the world right now, is now just gearing up for neutralising therapy trials, then the law of averages say that those AVCT Affimers are going to/have created "considerable interest" and a deal will/is getting done.
https://www.astrazeneca.com/media-centre/articles/2020/advancing-our-discovery-of-novel-coronavirus-neutralising-antibodies-against-covid-19.html
Many thanks BBN really appreciate your considered posts & taking the time to share your research ,would be great if AVCT could attract a suitable neutralising Affimers, partner .
That should have read "considerable interest" in my last post.
lovely work BBN
@CautiousOptimist In terms of the neutralising Affimers, here is the set of tweets I produced on this (not advertising, its just where I publish the majority of my work).
"It took Vir Bio c. 56 days from the point of announcing antibodies that bind to the spike protein of Covid, to securing a $250m investment from GSK.
#AVCT are currently c. 46 days in."
As of today that timeline has now moved on to 52 days.
However, no two paths are the same and I am tending towards believing that the next stage in Dr Bhella's work for AVCT; is to test the Affimers against live virus, which is as far as Vio were, when they struck the deal with GSK.
The AVCT official line states "Work is continuing with Professor Bhella to further study the way in which the Affimer reagents prevent infection," so it is my view point only.
Whatever the case, if those Affimers really are receiving considerable evidence, then AVCT is right in the getting a deal done zone.
https://twitter.com/BigBiteNow/status/1273526177324466181?s=20
Timster , are we both talking nonsense ?
One is as bad as the other? Filter.
boring. I am still in profit.
More than just.
mapp, what an earth are you on about??
now it's down again. That's AIM.
Time will tell if all goes well.
Sona SP is going to new heights again today.
A good view of what will happen to us when the news hits
What is the collective noun for inflection points?
Corporate Presentation (Therapeutics) Feb 2020
https://avacta.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Avacta-Group-February-2020.pdf
a rise is coming
hi, not so sure about neutralising therapy. My understanding is it was done in a lab, against cells in a dish.
there are existing therapies which have been tested in humans, both compounds and antibodies involved in ACW2 pathway. Avacta would need to compete against those in the short term.
given affimers have not been tested in animals, let alone humans, the most that can be expected is the best candidates have been identified. Ensuring that affimers in any form would be safe for use long term in humans I would have thought would take some time. The affimer can bind to the virus, but I would have thought it means it can bind to whatever the virus is pretending to be.
strong buy on avacta but not due to its ability to be involved blocking the virus from entering cells. Neat and interesting yes, long term opportunity....possibly. Investment case.....hmmm antibodies look better bet in short term.
but i write SW, my medical knowledge is "take 2 aspirin".
@PL75 you are slipping!! that was prime "price inflection point" territory ;)
I’ve similar timescales and aspirations in mind CS. This week for some other goodies, next week for the first big un related to the LFD.
Wouldn’t want to be out of this one.... at all.
I’m totally expecting this to rise again into close .
Just to manage the expectations of our more skittish visitors... That video interview was published on Thursday 2nd July, in which Al’s exact words were: “We’re in the process of optimising... and that’ll just take a couple of weeks.” Another way of interpreting this is a couple weeks after the point he said that, which would mean optimisation to be completed next week - then maybe we immediately get an RNS to say so, or maybe we have to wait from then until there are initial performance data to publish. An RNS next week would also fit precisely with the broker note that suggested about 3 weeks of optimisation from the previous RNS.
My quiet hope this week is for an RNS on the neutralising therapy, based on analogy with the Vir timelines, as laid out elsewhere by BBN. But that’s just an educated guess with a hefty smear of uncertainty that thwarts a simple 1:1 read-across on timescales. We could also see BAMS or manufacturing partners.
It’s going to be an interesting month one way or another. By the end of it we could have the perfect storm (from an investing point of view - tragic from a human point of view) of a burgeoning second wave in the UK, and numerous positive Covid-19 test/therapy updates from Avacta.
Yeah I was just about to post the same Milcait. My money is on Wednesday for the LFD update RNS. I think we're due a BAMS update this week too.