Avacta Group Regulatory News (AVCT)

20 Sep 2010 07:00

Avacta Group plc Licensing Agreement

Avacta Group plc ("Avacta" or "the Company"), the biophysics company which provides innovative high value technologies and services to the biopharmaceutical and diagnostics markets, announces that it has entered into an agreement with EV (Medical Screening) Limited ("EV") for the exclusive worldwide rights to Avacta's laser based breath diagnostics technology.

Avacta acquired the above technology in 2007 and has developed it into a viable method of breath diagnostics and industrial gas sensing with several prototypes having been completed.

EV is focused on becoming a world leading breath diagnostic company and has identified Avacta's technology as being capable of providing an accurate and sensitive method of detecting certain gases in human breath. EV is focused initially on non-invasive methods of screening the population for, and monitoring the treatment of, diabetes and expects to bring products to market within two years based on Avacta's and other technologies. This represents a multi-billion dollar worldwide market and Avacta will receive a royalty of 10% of net sales on products developed using its technology.

Alastair Smith, Chief Executive, Avacta Group plc commented:

"It is well recognized that there is a huge potential market for a non-invasive screening/monitoring tool for diabetes. The Avacta gas analysis technology has the potential to provide a rapid, non-invasive and accurate method of screening the population for diabetes and this is an area that Avacta had identified as ideal for its technology for some time. Our limited resources have not allowed Avacta to focus on human diagnostic applications to date but this license agreement with EV will accelerate the commercialisation of the technology in a valuable application area."

20 September 2010Enquiries:Avacta Group plc Tel: 0844 414 0452 Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer www.avacta.com Tim Sykes, Chief Financial Officer Broker Tel: 020 7101 7070 XCAP Securities Limited www.xcapgroup.com John Grant/Karen Kelly/David Newton Tel: 020 7383 5100 Nominated Adviser www.grantthornton.co.uk Grant Thornton Corporate Finance Philip Secrett/Colin Aaronson Haggie Financial LLP Tel: 020 7417 8989 Nicholas Nelson Notes to Editors:About Avacta

Avacta was spun-out from the University of Leeds in 2004 by its current management team as a biophysics company, with the aim of combining the disciplines of physics and biology to develop innovative technologies and expert technical services to address unmet needs in the biopharmaceutical and healthcare sectors. Avacta has a core bio-analytical technology development programme addressing the needs of the biopharmaceutical sector to fully characterise their new products at the earliest stage in their development to reduce the risk of late stage failure. High end analytical instruments and leading edge contract research services are being provided to the biopharmaceutical and healthcare/personal-care materials sectors through Avacta's biotech support division, Avacta Analytical. High value solutions for rapid, point of care diagnostics based on these core bio-analytical technologies, with a near term focus on veterinary diagnostics, are being delivered through Avacta Animal Health. Longer term these technologies will be transferred into the human clinical diagnostics market. Avacta listed on AIM in August 2006.