Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
I worked with Paul Ko Ferrigno (the inventor) for a year back in 2018, that's why I came across Affimers. I could just afford to put in 1k worth of 20p shares (my first share investment ever). Although I feel it was the best decision ever, at the same time I feel very reluctant of selling it because I understand the pipeline potential could make Avacta the next GSK or AZ in the next few years. That original 1k could be financially transformational for a scientist like me - I might not come across another Avacta or not have the full technology understanding of the tech by working with it . I'm sure you all heard stories of people who shortened Amazon, Apple, Google, AZ, GSK - I really wouldn't like to be one of those people.
That hasn't changed. I'm still happy to hold for the future. Scientifically they are amazing. I am only frustrated with the LFT delay and I have my investor's doubts if they can pull it off in a timely manner.
Although we see extreme polarisation of opinions and positions in the world, this is not my case.
I couldn't agree more. If the inflection point of the share was close, AS would not have sold shares. Say what you want, but he could've done the house business in many different ways if a substantial share appreciation was imminent. Another thing that worries me is that AVCT is so besotted with the cancer therapeutics rather than diagnostics. They might be happy enough with 2020 if they don't get the LFT to the market as they already have more cash that they could hope for 2020 if this was a normal year. In contrast, other COVID companies are prioritising the COVID portfolio because there's not much else out there for them.
Hi Cheng,
Can't disagree with you. But is it not risk x reward ratio? I am prepared to watch it go down because I got in at, 27p, 157 and 95p, respectively. I have only a few k's in so I'm in for the multibagger, the game changer, not for 30%, 50% or even 100%. I don't treat Avacta as normal stock because I appreciate its potential (and the circumstances) but I understand completely where you coming from, some people have way more invested in and it is painful to see it go down the drain.
Whatever is going on with the test, it is out of Avacta's scope - they are not manufacturers. From my understanding, they have provided with their part of the LFT in a timely manner and assured us that provision of Affimers will not be the bottleneck for large scale manufactory. The delay/challenge is downstream (BBI, Cytiva etc).
In regards to the Chinese test (Innova), we all know you can't compete with the them in regards to speed of delivery. Or do you all think people are working outside of 9-5pm at Abingdon Health?
The test will come, it won't be the first, or the second but it will be gold standard and it will be sold. Calm the feck down.
What are the other available platforms. Maybe Aptamers? Antibodies?
Aptamers protein binding tech is not as elegant, established and functional as Affimers. Antibodies are quite complicated (and takes ages) to be developed - they are huge, high non-specificity and very expensive to be manufactured in large scale.(they are usually made from mammalian cell lines). Affimers are made from bacteria cultures, super cheap and scalable. I currently work for a top UK biotech and none of my highly skilled colleagues have heard of Affimers. They might have read in the past a paper or two but a cool concept is quickly forgotten in academia/R&D until it returns as an stablished alternative or the new standard tech. It's baffling how Affimers haven't replaced antibodies yet (specially in immunoassays as western blots, FACS). Maybe Avacta is just not big enough to actually take its place in the market, I don't know. What I learnt it that just because I realise something, it doesn't mean that everybody else did it too.
I've worked with Affimers for a year (right after my PhD) and was immediately astonished by the potential. Used all my savings to get in at 24p before Covid19 times. I knew it was just a matter of time/opportunity until Avacta showed its real value. Scientific and financial love at first sight. I wish you all the best to come dear holders.