Change of auditor

RNS Number : 6548V

Avacta Group PLC

15 December 2021

 

15 December 2021

Avacta Group plc

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

Change of auditor

Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a clinical stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cancer therapies and powerful diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer^® and pre|CISION™ platforms, is pleased to announce that following the completion of a detailed selection process, the Board has approved the appointment of BDO LLP as its new external auditor subject to shareholder confirmation for the year ending 31 December 2021.

BDO will hold office until the next Annual General Meeting (in June 2022) at which point their appointment will be subject to shareholder approval. KPMG LLP has resigned as the Group's auditor and has confirmed to the Group that, in accordance with Section 519 of the Companies Act 2006, there are no circumstances in connection with its resignation which it considers need to be brought to the attention of the Company's shareholders or creditors.

Paul Fry, Chair of the Audit Committee of Avacta Group, commented:

"The Board would like to thank KPMG for their work as auditor since 2010, supporting the Group through a period of considerable growth and transition into a clinical stage company. We look forward to working with BDO and building a similar long-term relationship."

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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 / Ben Maddison	Tel: [phone] www.stifel.com
FTI Consulting (Financial Media and IR) Simon Conway / Stephanie Cuthbert	Tel: [phone] [e-mail]
Zyme Communications (Trade and Regional Media) Lily Jeffery	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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