Avacta Group Regulatory News (AVCT)

21 July 2022

Avacta Group plc

("Avacta" or "the Group" or "the Company")

AffyXell Successfully Completes Funding Round

AffyXell, Avacta's joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, has raised further funding from existing and new investors to drive its lead cell therapy programme towards the clinic

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cancer therapies and powerful diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms, today announces that AffyXell, its joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd., a publicly listed South Korean pharmaceutical company, has successfully completed a funding round to advance its lead mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) programme towards the clinic, and to develop its wider pre-clinical pipeline of cell therapies.

AffyXell is a joint venture established in January 2020 by Daewoong Pharmaceuticals and Avacta, developing the next generation of cell and gene therapies based on mesenchymal stem cells which incorporate Affimer® immunotherapies. This new class of stem cell therapy is designed to produce Affimer® proteins, in situ in the body, that reduce inflammatory or autoimmune responses to the stem cell therapy to potentially enhance their therapeutic effects.

The proceeds of the fundraise, which remain undisclosed for reasons of confidentiality, from existing and new financial and strategic investors, will allow the company to progress through significant value inflection points. The funds will be used to support Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies which will underpin a regulatory filing to take its lead programme into the clinic. The funding will also allow AffyXell to develop the broader pipeline of cell therapies to address a wide range of immune diseases with high unmet needs, and to reinforce its platform IP portfolio.

Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive of Avacta Group plc commented:

"We are delighted with the continued strong progress made by AffyXell. This joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical is a key strategic collaboration allowing us to demonstrate the potential of the Affimer platform to enhance cell therapies generally, as well as providing an opportunity to address high unmet need in AffyXell's focus area of immune diseases."

Dr Jong Sang Ryu, Chief Executive Officer of AffyXell said:

"I am very pleased that we have raised the capital required to accelerate the development of therapies using AFX platform targeting intractable diseases and providing meaningful options for suffering patients, especially in the immunology area."

- ENDS -

This announcement contains information which, prior to its disclosure, was considered inside information for the purposes of Article 7 of Regulation (EU) No 596/2014 (MAR).

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About Avacta Group plc - www.avacta.com

Avacta Group is developing novel cancer immunotherapies and powerful diagnostics based on its two proprietary platforms - Affimer® biologics and pre|CISION™ tumour targeted chemotherapies.

The Affimer® platform is an alternative to antibodies and is derived from a small human protein. Affimer technology has been designed to address many of the negative issues of antibodies, principally: the time taken to generate new antibodies, the reliance on an animal's immune response; poor specificity in many cases; in addition to, the complexity and high cost of manufacture. Despite these shortcomings, antibodies currently dominate markets, such as diagnostics and therapeutics, which are worth in excess of $100bn.

Avacta's pre|CISION™ targeted chemotherapy platform is designed to selectively release active chemotherapy in FAP rich tumour tissue to limit the systemic exposure that causes damage to healthy tissues, and thereby aims to improve the overall safety and therapeutic potential of these powerful anti-cancer treatments.

The Avacta Group comprises two divisions: The therapeutics development activities are based in London, UK and a separate diagnostics business unit is based in Wetherby, UK. The Group is generating near-term revenues from Affimer® reagents for diagnostics, bioprocessing and research.

Avacta's Diagnostics Division is developing an in-house pipeline of Affimer-based diagnostic assays, including the AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 Lateral Flow Rapid Antigen Test, and works with partners world-wide to develop bespoke Affimer® reagents for third party products.

Avacta's Therapeutics Division is working to generate more tolerable and durable treatments for oncology patients who do not respond to existing therapies. By combining its two proprietary platforms the Group is building a wholly owned pipeline of clinically differentiated cancer therapies. In 2021 Avacta transitioned to become a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, when it commenced a phase I trial in patients with locally advanced or metastatic selected solid tumours. The study was a first-in-human, open label, dose-escalation and expansion study of the Group's lead pre|CISION™ prodrug, AVA6000 (a pro-doxorubicin).

Avacta has established drug development partnerships with pharma and biotech, including a multi-target deal with LG Chem worth up to $400m, a joint venture in South Korea with Daewoong Pharmaceutical focused on cell and gene therapies incorporating Affimer immune-modulators and a recent license agreement with Point Biopharma for them to develop radiopharmaceuticals based on the pre|CISION™ platform.

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