Avacta & LG Chem Life Sciences Expand Partnership

Avacta Group plc recently announced the expansion of its existing multi-target collaboration and development agreement with LG Chem Life Sciences to include new programs incorporating Avacta’s Affimer XT serum half-life extension system.

In December 2018, Avacta and LG Chem entered into a multi-target therapeutics development agreement to develop Affimer therapeutics in several disease areas potentially worth over $300 million to Avacta. The companies have now agreed to expand this drug development partnership to include Avacta’s Affimer XT technology, which can be used to control the time a drug spends in the circulation.

The expansion of the partnership includes an undisclosed additional upfront payment, plus near-term preclinical milestones and longer-term clinical development milestones totaling $98.5 million for two therapeutics to be developed using the Affimer XT technology. Under the terms of the extended agreement, LG Chem has the exclusive rights to develop and commercialize, on a world-wide basis, Avacta’s Affimer PD-L1 inhibitor with Affimer XT serum half-life extension.

The expanded partnership also provides LG Chem with rights to develop and commercialize other Affimer and non-Affimer biotherapeutics combined with Affimer XT half-life extension for a range of indications and Avacta could earn up to $55 million in milestone payments for each of these new products. In addition, under the agreement Avacta will earn royalties on all future Affimer XT product sales by LG Chem.

Dr. Alastair Smith, Chief Executive of Avacta Group, “I am delighted with this expansion to the agreement with LG Chem, with whom we have developed a strong collaborative partnership. LG Chem is a world-class drug development partner with excellent biologics manufacturing and clinical development capabilities and a pioneering vision to develop innovative therapies. The expansion of our collaboration to develop new therapies for patients with cancer and other diseases is another strong validation of the Affimer technology and its potential as a therapeutic platform to deliver a pipeline of new drugs. We look forward to developing these new therapies with our partners, LG Chem, and I look forward to updating the market on this and our other drug development and diagnostics progammes in due course.”

Avacta is developing novel cancer immunotherapies combining its two proprietary platforms – Affimer biotherapeutics and pre|CISION tumour-targeted chemotherapy. With this approach, the company aims to address the lack of a durable response to current immunotherapies experienced by most patients. The company’s therapeutics development activities are based in Cambridge, UK. The company benefits from near-term revenues generated from Affimer reagents for diagnostics, bioprocessing and research, through a separate business unit based in Wetherby, UK.

The Affimer platform is an alternative to antibodies derived from a small human protein. Despite their shortcomings, antibodies currently dominate markets worth in excess of $100 billion. Affimer technology has been designed to address many of these negative performance issues, principally: the time taken, and the reliance on an animal’s immune response, to generate new antibodies; poor specificity in many cases; large size and cost.

Avacta’s pre|CISION targeted chemotherapy platform, releases active chemotherapy only in the tumor, thereby limiting systemic exposure and damage to healthy tissues, and thereby improving the overall safety and therapeutic potential of these powerful anti-cancer treatments.

By combining these two platforms the company is building a wholly owned pipeline of novel cancer therapies with the aim of creating effective treatments for all cancer patients including those who do not respond to existing immunotherapies. Avacta expects to take its first drug, a pre|CISION targeted form of the standard-of-care Doxorubicin, into the clinic later in 2020 or early 2021.

Avacta has established drug development partnerships with pharma and biotech, including with Moderna Therapeutics Inc., a deal with LG Chem worth up to $310 million, a partnership with ADC Therapeutics to develop Affimer drug conjugates and has established a joint venture in South Korea with Daewoong Pharmaceutical focused on cell and gene therapies incorporating Affimer immune-modulators. Avacta actively seeks to license its proprietary platforms in a range of therapeutic areas.

Avacta diagnostics business unit works with partners world-wide to develop Affimers for evaluation by those third parties with the objective of establishing royalty bearing license deals. The Company is also developing a small in-house pipeline of Affimer-based diagnostic assays for licensing.

LG Chem Life Sciences is a business division within LG Chem, engaged in the development, manufacturing, as well as commercialising pharmaceutical products globally. LG Chem Life Sciences seeks to expand and make global presence by focusing on key core therapeutic areas of Immunology, Oncology, and Metabolic Diseases (specifically, diabetes and related metabolic diseases). To achieve such, its strategy is to actively pursue global collaboration encompassing from asset-centric to strategic investment and collaboration.