Avacta Life Sciences Exhibits Affimers at PEGS

RNS Number : 1587I

Avacta Group PLC

28 May 2014

 



Avacta Group plc

("Avacta" or the "Group")

Avacta Life Sciences Exhibits Affimers at Global Protein Engineering Summit

Affimer technology well received at largest international protein engineering gathering

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the global provider of proprietary diagnostic tools, consumables and reagents for human and animal healthcare, announces that Avacta Life Sciences exhibited recently at the Global Protein Engineering Summit ("PEGS") where it presented its Affimer technology.

PEGS is considered to be the essential protein engineering meeting where commercial and academic progress in protein engineering is showcased and this year it attracted over 1800 delegates from across the globe to Boston. Avacta Life Sciences presented its Affimer technology for the first time at a PEGS meeting with technical exhibits and a presentation by the CSO, Paul Ko Ferrigno, entitled "Biological Recognition: Beyond the Antibody."*

The exhibition booth was busy with over 80 delegates talking to the Company management team over the four days of the summit. The feedback on the Affimer technology was very positive, in particular, the short development times and excellent stability were highlighted by delegates as key advantages of Affimers over antibodies. There was also a strong interest in Affimers from the management of companies developing biological therapeutics who were keen to learn more about the potential of Affimers as novel therapeutics.

In addition, several companies were interested in the use of Affimers as an alternative to antibodies in diagnostic devices, mainly because they could generate binders against new biomarkers much more quickly and evaluate them in higher numbers.

The benefits of Affimer microarrays for biomarker discovery also resonated with diagnostic developers who appreciated the advantage of being able to evaluate significantly larger numbers of potential biomarkers more cost and time effectively than by mass spectrometry. The potential of the arrays for multiplexed solutions for clinical diagnosis and monitoring during drug trials was also something that generated interest amongst those delegates.

Matt Johnson, Chief Technical Officer of Avacta Life Sciences commented: "It was great to experience face to face the level of interest in Affimers. The majority of people I spoke to were either having problems raising antibodies to their target of interest or just couldn't use antibodies because of the type of assays they wanted to perform. Many of the presentations focused around the use of antibody fragments for intra-cellular studies which is a rapidly growing area that holds great interest for drug and diagnostics developers. It is an area where there are clear advantages for Affimers over antibody fragments which don't behave well in the cytoplasm.

"The general enthusiasm around Affimers was very encouraging and the amount of interest generated by the potential of Affimers as therapeutics and by the Affimer arrays for biomarker discovery only reinforces my excitement around this new technology."

*full article available on request or visit the Avacta website www.avacta.com

Avacta Group plc Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer Tim Sykes, Chief Financial Officer	Tel:  [phone] www.avacta.com
Media Enquiries Walbrook PR Ltd Mike Wort / Anna Dunphy	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

About Avacta Group plc - www.avacta.com

Avacta Group plc is a global provider of innovative technologies, consumables and reagents for the life science markets, from drug discovery to diagnostics. Avacta operates through three divisions:

Avacta Analytical www.avactaanalytical.com	High throughput analysis instrument, Optim, to help reduce the cost and risk of drug development.
Avacta Animal Health www.avactaanimalhealth.com	Veterinary diagnostics reference laboratory, diagnostic kits and newly launched in-clinic blood analyser, Sensipod.
Avacta Life Sciences www.avactalifesciences.com	Novel non-antibody affinity reagents called Affimers, with a wide range of Life Science applications in diagnostics, drug and biomarker discover and biotech research and development.

Avacta joined AIM in August 2006 and is based in Wetherby, England.

 

END

 

 

NRAQKODQPBKDNPB