Avacta doubles revenues thanks to LG Chem milestone payment

(Sharecast News) - Biotherapeutics development outfit Avacta doubled revenues in the 17-month period ended 31 December 2019 as it was boosted by an initial milestone payment from LG Chem.
Avacta said on Thursday that revenues doubled to £5.5m and were ahead of market expectations.

The AIM-listed group highlighted that revenues from its Affimer diagnostics business had grown 130% as more customer evaluations of the platform were underway.

Avacta also said its order intake and sales pipeline into 2020 were "the strongest to date".

Looking ahead, Avacta also pointed out that 2020 revenues would benefit from its expanded LG Chem partnership, a new collaboration established with ADC Therapeutics and a recently announced joint-venture with Daewoong Pharmaceuticals - each of which will fully fund the group's related R&D activities.

Chief executive Dr Alastair Smith said: "We are delighted with the significant commercial and operational progress that has been made during the period, expanding our therapeutic development partnership with LG Chem and adding new collaborations with ADC Therapeutics and with Daewoong.

"I am therefore looking ahead with confidence and believe 2020 will be an exciting year of further progress."

As of 1025 GMT, Avacta shares were up 1.41% at 18.33p.