RE: Next BioTech mergers!!7 Jul 2023 07:54
1. Avacta
Avacta shares have dropped from a record 185p in early February to just 104p today, leaving the junior with a £286 million market cap. While it remains highly capitalised with £27 million on the balance sheet, it’s a very strong potential buyout target.
Even after making multiple purchases of its own — including Coris Bioconcept for £7.4 million recently — the majors are almost certainly watching the FTSE AIM company closely.
Flagship AVA6000 — a novel form of standard chemotherapy Doxorubicin — which is coming towards the end of phase 1A clinical trials, recently reported back on its successful fifth dose escalation. Crucially, the company noted that ‘several patients in cohort 5 and earlier cohorts remain on treatment as their disease has not progressed.’
Further, AVA6000 patients are seeing a ‘marked reduction in the incidence and severity of the typical toxicities associated with the standard doxorubicin chemotherapy administration,’ with clinicians reportedly unable to tell whether patients are even on the drug. And the next cohort will be treated with 2.7 times the standard dose of Dox.
Having taken on board multiple persons of note, Avacta has also just appointed Consilium Strategic Communications as the company’s investor and media relations advisor.