Avacta Group Regulatory News (AVCT)

19 Sep 2006 07:00

Avacta Group Plc Collaborative Agreement with Pharmaceutical Research Company, SSCI Inc. Avacta Group Plc ("Avacta" or the "Company"), which develops detection andanalysis technology aimed at the defence & security, pharmaceutical andclinical diagnostics markets, announces that it has entered into acollaborative business development agreement with SSCI Inc. ("SSCI"), of WestLafayette, USA.The collaboration is expected to expand and enhance methods, applications andinstrumentation used in the characterisation and analysis of small and largemolecules for drug development. The Directors believe that such collaborationmay lead to the creation of proprietary technologies with commercialapplications.Additionally, the two companies will work together to develop new strategiesfor procuring and enforcing patents in the aforementioned areas. SSCI hopes toleverage Avacta's extensive and recognised expertise in biopharmaceuticalanalysis, biophysics and spectroscopy and Avacta hopes to benefit from SSCI'sextensive experience in drug development, computational analysis and thedevelopment of advanced analytical methods.Professor Alastair Smith, Chief Executive, Avacta, commented:"This is an important collaboration for Avacta and will help position us at theforefront of contract pharmaceutical research. We are excited to be workingwith SSCI who have a huge presence in the market, complementary expertise toour own and an extensive customer base." 19 September 2006Contacts:Avacta Group Plc Tel: 0870 835 4367 Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Nexus Financial Ltd Tel: 020 7451 7068 Nicholas Nelson, Director Nicholas.nelson@nexusgroup.co.uk Notes to Editors:Avacta Group Plc: The Avacta Group is a biophysics group which combines theprecision of physics with the power of biology for the development ofinnovative enabling technologies for the biopharmaceutical, clinicaldiagnostics, defence and homeland security sectors. Avacta Analytical Limited("Avacta Analytical") is a wholly owned subsidiary of Avacta Group Plc whichspecialises in the application of its extensive expertise in biophysics,optical spectroscopy, surface analysis and microscopy to biopharmaceutical,pharmaceutical and healthcare markets. Avacta Analytical has developed a"Biophysical Toolkit¢â€ž¢" which facilitates detailed characterisation of thehigher order structure of biopharmaceutical materials. The Toolkit is designedfor a range of applications, for example in comparability studies, stabilitytesting and formulation development, for evaluating the effects of thebiomanufacturing processes on protein structure and aggregation and forcharacterising viral vaccines. Avacta Analytical also has key personnel withlong track records of providing scientific support and expert witness servicesin pharmaceutical litigation in Europe, the US and Canada.SSCI Inc: SSCI provides comprehensive contract based research and analyticalservices to the pharmaceutical, specialty, industrial, and fine chemicalindustries in the characterisation and chemistry of solid materials from itslaboratories which occupy a 32,000 sq ft facility in West Lafayette, IndianaUSA. SSCI helps its pharmaceutical industry clients to accelerate the pace ofdrug development and improve the quality of the drugs that they offer. SSCI wasfounded in 1991 to provide professional development short courses and othereducational services to the pharmaceutical industry. Since then, SSCI hasgreatly expanded its capabilities and personnel. SSCI's primary business now iscontract drug development and improvement.All trademarks, registered trademarks and trade names used in this announcementare the property of their respective owners.ENDAVACTA GROUP PLC