Avacta Group Announces Positive Outcome of Proof-of-Concept Study

Avacta Group plc recently announced its initial study with Glythera Limited, the developer of next-generation antibody drug conjugates, has concluded successfully. Following this study, the two companies have agreed the terms of a licensing deal which will allow them to develop drug conjugates using the combined technologies. The detailed terms of the license have not been disclosed but Avacta would receive development milestone payments and royalties on sales of an approved drug developed by Glythera.

The antibody drug conjugate market is estimated to be worth around $1 billion today from two approved compounds and is expected to be worth $14.6 billion annually by 2030. Drug conjugates combine a chemotherapy (toxin) with a protein such as an antibody or Affimer to target that toxin to the tumor.

Avacta and Glythera have carried out a proof-of-concept study designed to demonstrate that Avacta’s Affimer technology could be combined with Glythera’s Permalink conjugation chemistry to provide a technically superior drug conjugate platform with shorter development times, simpler, more consistent production, and greater chemical stability. An Affimer, compared with a much larger antibody, potentially also allows greater control over the time the drug spends in the blood stream and deeper tumor penetration producing a more effective medicine with fewer toxic side effects.

Importantly, the initial trial has also shown that the Affimer remains functional when the toxic payload has been added indicating that the combination of the two technologies has the potential to develop drug conjugate therapies.

“The drug conjugate market is a very important one for the Affimer technology because of the key benefits of Affimers’ solvent stability, controlled conjugation chemistry, and small size, which have now been clearly demonstrated. When combined with the benefits of Glythera’s Permalink chemistry, we believe that there is potential to create a competitive, differentiated drug conjugate platform. I am delighted with the reciprocal arrangements that we have put in place with Glythera allowing both companies to develop Affimer-Permalink drug conjugates and I look forward to updating the market on progress in Avacta’s drug development programmes in due course,” said Dr. Alastair Smith, Avacta Group Chief Executive Officer.

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 $100 billion 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 preclinical biotech development program 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. For more information, visit www.avacta.com.

Glythera is a biotechnology company focused on the development of next- generation antibody drug conjugates (ADCs) designed to combat difficult-to-treat tumours, including those that are resistant or refractory to current treatment regimens. Glythera’s pipeline of stable, safe and superior ADCs is centred on its highly stable PermaLink conjugation platform in combination with a portfolio of highly potent cytotoxic payloads designed to enhance antitumor activity and improve the lives of cancer patients. For more information, visit www.glythera.com.