Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a life sciences company developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs and powerful diagnostics, today announces the presentation of interim results from the Phase 1 clinical trial of peptide drug conjugate AVA6000 at the American Association for Cancer Research ('AACR') annual meeting in San Diego, USA.

The results to date show that AVA6000, the first peptide drug conjugate in the Avacta pipeline, has a favorable safety profile with concentration of the warhead in the TME resulting in multiple responses in patients with high levels of Fibroblast Activation Protein ('FAPhigh'), thus delivering clinical proof-of-concept for AVA6000 and proof-of-mechanism for the proprietary pre|CISIONTM drug delivery platform.

Professor Udai Banerji, Lead Investigator for the AACR poster and the Co-Director of the Drug Development Unit at The Institute of Cancer Research and The Royal Marsden NHS Foundation Trust, commented: 'The trial of AVA6000 shows an opportunity to be able to localize an already effective chemotherapeutic agent to tumors using innovative technology and biomarker strategies, resulting in reduced side effects. I am enthusiastic about the early findings and I'm looking forward to completing the Phase 1 trial and moving it to the next stage in development.'

Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta, commented: 'The data being presented at AACR support our continually growing confidence in the pre|CISION peptide drug conjugate platform.

'We have already observed compelling evidence in the ongoing clinical studies of AVA6000 that the platform delivers a step change in the tolerability levels compared with standard doxorubicin. The data we are presenting today demonstrate that the derived doxorubicin is being achieved through tumor cleavage, validating the platform further and giving us great confidence in the future efficacy studies.

'The positive data we are continuing to observe supports our belief that pre|CISION could be a game changer in cancer treatment, allowing patients to achieve better outcomes with reduced side effects both with doxorubicin and potentially other more potent warheads.'

Christina Coughlin MD, PhD, Head of Research and Development at Avacta, added: 'Antibody drug conjugates have been a key focus of oncology research given their known antitumor effects in multiple solid tumors. The proof-of-concept data presented today with AVA6000 suggest that the peptide drug conjugate drug class has several key advantages, particularly the tumor-specificity of the release of doxorubicin through targeting FAP and simplicity of the manufacturing process which results in significant savings in the cost of goods.

'Today's clinical data demonstrate that treatment of patients with metastatic cancers with AVA6000 results in tumor responses with favorable tolerability in patients whose tumors over-express FAP (FAPhigh). Importantly, many of the patients had experienced disease progression with prior lines of therapy. We believe these data support the further development of AVA6000 in a specific set of indications with higher FAP expression and sensitivity to anthracyclines. We look forward to providing further updates from the Phase 1 clinical trial in due course ahead of completion and moving to the next stage of development, and updates to the Avacta pipeline implementing these results in new programs.'

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