Directorate Change

RNS Number : 3661F

Avacta Group PLC

21 March 2022

 

  21 March 2022

Avacta Group plc

("Avacta" or "the Group" or "the Company")

Directorate Change

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a clinical stage oncology drug company and developer of powerful diagnostics based on its innovative Affimer^® and pre|CISION™ platforms, announces the appointment of Christina Coughlin, M.D., Ph.D., as Non-executive Director to the Board with immediate effect.

Dr. Coughlin is the Chief Executive Officer of CytoImmune Therapeutics, Inc., a clinical stage biotechnology company, focused on the development and commercialisation of novel cancer immunotherapy products utilising engineered allogeneic natural killer cells to stimulate the patient's immune system and eliminate cancer cells. Dr. Coughlin has a broad background in biotechnology and global pharmaceuticals, with comprehensive drug development experience spanning programmes in pre-Investigational New Drug (IND) studies through late-stage trials and regulatory approval filings, and a track record of building drug development teams in global companies.

Dr. Coughlin previously served as Chief Medical Officer to Rubius Therapeutics, Inc., where she led the clinical development, translational medicine and regulatory efforts for the company's programmes emerging from its allogeneic red cell therapy platform. Prior to Rubius, Dr. Coughlin was with Tmunity Therapeutics, Inc., where she served as Chief Medical Officer and was responsible for the development of autologous CAR-T and TCR-T cellular therapies.

Dr. Coughlin has held other leadership roles in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields in her career, including Chief Medical Officer at Immunocore, heading the development of the soluble TCR platform, and Oncology Asset Team Leader at Pfizer. Dr. Coughlin received her M.D. and Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania and completed fellowships in Haematology and Oncology at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and in the Translational Research Group under the direction of Carl June, M.D., at the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Christina Coughlin, commented:

"I find the Affimer^® and pre|CISION™ platforms to be highly innovative in the oncology field. I look forward to joining the Board and working with my new colleagues and the Avacta management team to develop novel therapies that will improve the lives of patients suffering from cancer."

Dr. Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group, commented:

"I am very pleased, indeed, to welcome Christina to Avacta and the Board. Christina is a vastly experienced biotech executive and oncologist, and Avacta will benefit greatly from her knowledge and expertise in shaping the future strategy for the therapeutic business."

Dr. Eliot Forster, Chairman of Avacta Group, commented:

"I am delighted that Christina will be joining the Board of Avacta. Christina will bring a wealth of clinical and drug development experience and expertise which will be invaluable as we progress our pipeline of proprietary Affimer^® and pre|CISION™ programmes in the clinic. I look forward to working with her again on the Avacta Board."

-Ends -

Regulatory disclosure - The following information is disclosed in accordance with Rule 17 and paragraph (g) of Schedule 2 of the AIM Rules for Companies.

Dr. Christina Marie Coughlin, 51, holds no ordinary shares in the Company. Dr. Coughlin's current and previous directorships are as follows:

Current Directorships/Partnerships:

CytoImmune Therapeutics, LLC (California)

CytoImmune Therapeutics, LLC (New Jersey)

CytoImmune Therapeutics, LLC (Delaware)

Directorships/Partnerships held in last 5 years:

None

Save for the disclosures above, there are no further disclosures to be made in accordance with Rule 17 and Schedule 2(g) of the AIM Rules.

For further information from Avacta Group plc, please contact:

Avacta Group plc Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer Tony Gardiner, Chief Financial Officer Michael Vinegrad, Group Communications Director	Tel: [phone] www.avacta.com
Stifel Nicolaus Europe Limited (Nomad and Broker) Nicholas Moore / Nick Adams / Fred Walsh / Nicholas Harland	Tel: [phone] www.stifel.com
FTI Consulting (Financial Media and IR) Simon Conway / Alex Shaw	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]
Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media) Katie Odgaard	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]

About Avacta Group plc - https://www.avacta.com

Avacta Group is developing novel cancer immunotherapies and powerful diagnostics based on its two proprietary platforms - Affimer^® biologics and pre|CISION™ tumour targeted chemotherapies.

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

Avacta's pre|CISION™ targeted chemotherapy platform releases active chemotherapy in the tumour, which limits the systemic exposure that causes damage to healthy tissues, and thereby improves the overall safety and therapeutic potential of these powerful anti-cancer treatments.

The Group comprises two divisions: The therapeutics development activities are based in London and Cambridge, UK and the Group is generating near-term revenues from Affimer reagents for diagnostics, bioprocessing and research, through a separate diagnostics business unit based in Wetherby, UK.

Avacta's Diagnostics Division is developing an in-house pipeline of Affimer-based diagnostic assays, including the AffiDX^® SARS-CoV-2 Lateral Flow Rapid Antigen Test, and works with partners world-wide to develop bespoke Affimer^® reagents for third party products.

Avacta's Therapeutics Division is working to deliver a more tolerable and durable treatment response for oncology patients who do not respond to existing immunotherapies. By combining its two proprietary platforms the Group is building a wholly owned pipeline of clinically differentiated cancer therapies, aiming to extend the therapeutic benefits to all cancer patients. In 2021 Avacta transitioned to become a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company, commencing a phase I first-in-human, open label, dose-escalation and expansion study of AVA6000, a pro-doxorubicin, the Group's lead pre|CISION™ prodrug, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic selected solid tumours.

Avacta has established drug development partnerships with pharma and biotech, including a research collaboration with ModernaTX, Inc. (formerly Moderna Therapeutics Inc.), a multi-target deal with LG Chem worth up to $400m, a joint venture in South Korea with Daewoong Pharmaceutical focused on cell and gene therapies incorporating Affimer immune-modulators and a collaboration with Point Biopharma to develop radiopharmaceuticals based on the pre|CISION™ platform. Avacta continues to actively seek to license its proprietary platforms in a range of therapeutic areas.

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