Avacta Group Plc (LON:AVCT), the developer of biotherapeutics and reagents, has agreed on a licensing deal with Glythera, a developer of next-generation antibody drug conjugates.
Following a successful joint study, the two companies have inked a licensing deal that will allow them to develop drug conjugates using their combined technologies.
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Avacta is a pioneer of Affimer technology - small, engineered proteins that are capable of binding specific molecular targets, in a similar way to antibodies.
The study concluded 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 tumour penetration producing a more effective medicine with fewer toxic side effects, Avacta’s announcement said.
The company added that the initial trial also showed that 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.
Detailed terms of the licence have not been disclosed but Avacta did say it would receive development milestone payments and royalties on sales of an approved drug developed by Glythera.
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"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,” said Alastair Smith, the chief executive officer of Avacta.
Avacta’s house broker, finnCap, said the establishment of the Affimer Drug Conjugate (AfDC) platform provides further evidence of the flexibility of the Affimer technology and the opportunity to “generate downstream economic value”.
“A follow-on AfDC drug development partnership with Glythera has been established, which the company aims to replicate with other, larger partners. These data demonstrate the broadening utility of Affimers,” the broker said.
“Glythera represents one of a number of research collaborations in which Avacta's Affimer technology is being applied; in gene delivery (Moderna Therapeutics and FIT Biotech) and CAR-T (Memorial Sloan Kettering) in which it can monetise the value of its Affimer technology, whilst pursuing its proprietary drug pipeline,” finnCap said.
Shares in Avacta were up 6.9% following the announcement.