Avacta Group Regulatory News (AVCT)

11 June 2018

Avacta Group plc

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

Appointment of Dr Eliot Forster as Non-Executive Chairman

Highly experienced pharma/biotech professional to lead Avacta's Board

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the developer of Affimer® biotherapeutics and reagents, is pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Eliot Forster as Non-Executive Chairman to the Board with immediate effect. Dr Trevor Nichols, who has acted as Chairman of the Board since January 2014, will remain on the Board as a Non-Executive Director.

Dr Forster brings over 25 years of experience in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, most recently leading Immunocore as Chief Executive Officer to become a world-leading immuno-oncology biotech, raising over £230 million in equity and non-dilutive funding as well as securing partnerships with AstraZeneca and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

The early part of Dr Forster's career was at GSK and then he went on to hold a number of senior roles in Pfizer where he became Head of Development and Operations for the EU and Asia, a role in which he was responsible for drug development activities across multiple geographies and was involved in bringing several drugs to market, including Celebrex® (celecoxib) and Relpax® (eletriptan). Since leaving Pfizer, Dr Forster's roles have included the Chief Executive Officer of UK-based Creabilis.

Dr Forster holds a PhD in neurophysiology from Liverpool University and an MBA from Henley Management College. He is Chairman of the MedCity project that promotes the Life Sciences in the London/Cambridge/Oxford "Golden Triangle". He is an Honorary Visiting Professor of the Pharmacology and Physiology Department at the University of Liverpool, a Board member of OSCHR (Office for Strategic Coordination of Health Research) and the National Genomics Board.

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

"I am absolutely delighted that Dr Forster is joining Avacta. We have an exciting opportunity to build a world-leading and highly valuable biotech based on the Affimer platform. Eliot's considerable experience, expertise and network will make a material difference to achieving that goal and to delivering maximum value to shareholders.

I would like to thank Dr Nichols for his hard work and support as Chairman over the past few years. We are very pleased that he will remain on the Board as Non-Executive Director.

I look forward to updating the market on Avacta's progress as the Group advances its proprietary pipeline of Affimer therapeutics towards the clinic and builds a business based on Affimer reagents for research and diagnostics."

Dr Eliot Forster, Chairman of Avacta Group, commented:

"I am very much looking forward to serving Avacta Group alongside the Board of Directors. I am confident that Avacta's Affimer technology will be both disruptive and transformational in the biotech field. It is a privilege to begin working with Alastair and the team as the Company enters an exciting new phase in its growth, advancing therapeutics to the clinic and further building the reagents business."

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

About Avacta Group plc (www.avacta.com)

Avacta's principal focus is on its proprietary Affimer® technology which is a novel engineered alternative to antibodies that has wide application in Life Sciences for diagnostics, therapeutics and general research and development.

Antibodies dominate markets worth in excess of $50bn despite their shortcomings. Affimer technology has been designed to address many of these negative performance issues, principally; the time taken to generate new antibodies, the reliance on an animal's immune response, poor specificity in many cases, and batch to batch variability. Affimer technology is based on a small protein that can be quickly generated to bind with high specificity and affinity to a wide range of protein targets.

Avacta has a pre-clinical biotech development programme with an in-house focus on immuno-oncology and bleeding disorders as well as partnered development programmes. Avacta is commercialising non-therapeutic Affimer reagents through licensing to developers of life sciences research tools and diagnostics.

Regulatory disclosure - The following information is disclosed in accordance with Rule 17 and paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Dr Eliot Richard Forster, 52, holds no ordinary share in the Company. Mr. Forster's current and previous directorships are as follows:

Current Directorships/Partnerships:

MedCity Ltd

GERM Limited

Advanced Oxford CIC

Biobreak UK Limited

GMEC Management Company Limited 

Directorships/Partnerships held in last 5 years:

Immunocore Nominees Limited

Creabilis Holdings Limited

Creabilis UK Limited

Immunocore Limited

Persica Pharmaceuticals Limited

Spinifex Inc.

Oxford Biotherapeutics Ltd

Poet in the City Trading Limited

Voluntary liquidation

Solace Pharmaceuticals Inc. was put into liquidation on 8 February 2010. Mr. Forster resigned in May 2010.

Save for the disclosures above, there are no further disclosures to be made in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules.