Avacta Group plc, a UK-based healthcare technology and consumables business, provides innovative and proprietary solutions to the life sciences/healthcare sector through two operating divisions:

Avacta Analytical provides high-end analytical instrumentation and services to the biopharmaceutical sector, expected to be a US$200bn revenue market by 2013 and the fastest growing part of the pharmaceutical industry. The Company’s technologies are aimed at reducing the risks and expense associated with biological drug development and thereby reducing the final cost of drugs to patients. The Company’s lead analytical instrument, Optim, is distributed through Pall Corporation in US and SE Asia, Isogen Life Sciences in Europe, Cold Spring Biotech Corp in China and Taiwan and DKSH in Japan. Avacta sells Optim directly in the UK.

Avacta Animal Health provides diagnostic products and services for the US$1.5bn global veterinary diagnostics market. Its aim is to equip veterinary professionals with high quality animal health and well-being information through point of care diagnostics and laboratory based testing. Avacta’s AX-1 point of care immunoassay system is aimed at providing the veterinarian with rapid blood test results in the clinic. The initial range of tests launched with the AX-1 relates to Avacta’s world leading allergy testing brand Sensitest®. Avacta is developing further assays for the AX-1 system to diagnose a range of diseases in companion animals. Longer term, these technologies will be transferred into the human clinical diagnostics market.

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

http://www.avacta.com/

up 29% on the day.

Avacta Group: Numis shifts target price from 1.70p to 1.40p keeping its buy recommendation.

Started watching this one at 1.3p Did some research and watched it drop and now back up to 0.93.

a couple of positive news articles and the launch of it's testing kit to vets.

The real money in this is not the testing kits but the consumables.

The sells shown today are most likely buys as I am got brought in and mine was shown as a sell.

Started watching this one at 1.3p Did some research and watched it drop and now back up to 0.93.

a couple of positive news articles and the launch of it's testing kit to vets.

The real money in this is not the testing kits but the consumables.

The sells shown today are most likely buys, I just brought in and mine was shown as a sell.

from the 16th Sep
Shares in Avacta (AVCT) are up 11% today 0.91p but the hot money is heading in and reckons that the shares could be heading for 2p before too long.

The reason for today’s rise is that the provider of diagnostic tools, consumables and reagents aimed at reducing the cost of human and animal healthcare appointed Dr Matt Johnson to lead the Group's Affimer technology development and production teams. Dr Johnson joins Avacta from Abcam plc where he was Head of R&D.

That is the key. Abcam delivered pretty cracking gains for a range of fund managers over the past few years and they all know Dr Johnson well. Expect more sustained buying from those in the know who reckon that, from here, Avacta shares could easily double.
- See more at: http://www.shareprophets.com/views/1611/hot-money-buys-avacta-at-091p-reckons-2p-on-the-cards#sthash.smUhw6mR.dpuf

FLASH: Numis reiterates buy on Avacta Group, target raised from 1.4p to 1.7p -

See more at: http://www.stockmarketwire.com/article/4675857/FLASH-Numis-reiterates-buy-on-Avacta-Group-target-raised-from-1-point-4p-to-1-point-7p.html#sthash.cGULwgRR.dpuf

Panmure Gordon restated their buy rating on shares of Avacta Group Plc (LON:AVCT) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, AR Network reports. The firm currently has a GBX 1.75 ($0.03) price target on the stock.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Analysts at Numis Securities Ltd raised their price target on shares of Avacta Group Plc (LON:AVCT) from GBX 1.40 ($0.02) to GBX 1.70 ($0.03) in a research note to investors on Thursday. They now have a buy rating on the stock.

Avacta Group Plc (LON:AVCT) traded down 10.11% on Thursday, hitting GBX 0.80. 2,852,550 shares of the company’s stock traded hands. Avacta Group Plc has a 52 week low of GBX 0.44 and a 52 week high of GBX 1.333. The stock’s 50-day moving average is GBX 0.8 and its 200-day moving average is GBX 0.93.

Avacta Group plc is engaged in healthcare equipment and instrumentation business, provides technologies and services to the life sciences/healthcare sector through two operating divisions: Avacta Analytical and Avacta Animal Health.

First therapeutic licensing agreement for Affimers

RNS


RNS Number : 6942Q

Avacta Group PLC

17 October 2013






17 October 2013

Avacta Group plc

("Avacta" or the "Group")



First therapeutic licensing agreement for Affimers



Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a global provider of proprietary diagnostic tools, consumables and reagents for human and animal healthcare, announces that it has signed a licensing agreement with UK biotechnology company, Blueberry Therapeutics Ltd ("Blueberry"), to use Affimers in the development of new therapies for the treatment of drug resistant bacterial infection.



Under the terms of the deal, Avacta will provide proprietary Affimers to Blueberry for their drug development programmes in infectious diseases. As part of this deal Avacta has already supplied the first lead Affimer.



Affimers are engineered alternatives to antibodies. The platform is based on a small human protein that can be engineered to bind with high specificity and affinity to a wide range of protein targets thereby creating a potentially large menu of affinity reagents. Avacta is focused on the commercialisation of Affimers as reagents for research and Affimer microarrays which provide a powerful drug and biomarker discovery tool. In addition, Avacta is actively seeking licensing opportunities to commercialise Affimers as therapeutics, as with this initial deal with Blueberry.



Commenting on the deal, Alastair Smith CEO of Avacta said: "Our agreement with Blueberry is another important milestone achieved for Avacta by the life sciences division. Whilst Avacta will focus on non-therapeutic applications of the Affimer technology we are very well aware of the potential value as a therapeutic platform and this deal represents the first independent evaluation of our Affimer technology in this area. It also confirms the utility of Affimers as affinity reagents and will raise the profile of Affimers for other pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies around the World. I look forward to being able update the market on our progress with Affimers as general life sciences reagents and in microarrays, as well as on other therapeutic partnerships, in due course."



John Ridden, CEO of Blueberry said: "We at Blueberry are delighted to be working with Avacta and using their innovative Affimer screening platform to deliver starting points for new medicines. We are looking forward to a long and productive relationship together."

Interesting Comment from Smith, 2nd last paragraph.

Mixed message there or am I reading too much into this.

They are aware of the value as a therapeutic platform, but we not going to do that. More partnerships on the way

or if you want this come and buy us.

WATCH: Avacta Group (AVCT) - Preliminary results

Click here

SP on the move about to go through the .94 resistance

Avacta news in Europe

LISTEN: Dr Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta Group, discusses the launch of new canine blood test

Click here to listen

WATCH: Dr. Alastair Smith, CEO & Dr. Matt Johnson, Head of R&D at Avacta, give an investor teach-in

Click here to watch

WATCH: Dr. Alastair Smith, CEO of Avacta Group, provides a brief overview of the recent investor briefing

Click here to watch

LISTEN: Avacta Group (AVCT) - Affimers: Technical and commercial update

Click here to listen

Interim Results

RNS


RNS Number : 2671F

Avacta Group PLC

23 April 2014







Avacta Group plc

("Avacta" or the "Group")



Interim Results



Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), a global provider of innovative diagnostic tools, consumables and reagents for human and animal healthcare, announces its interim results for the period ended 31 January 2014.



Financial highlights

· Revenues increase by 40% to £1.61m (2013: £1.15m)

· Avacta Animal Health revenues up 12% to £0.82m (2013: £0.73m)

· Avacta Analytical revenues increased 2.5 times to £0.79m (2013: £0.31m)

· 9 Optim units sold (2013: 2 units)

· Gross margins up to 64% (2013: 56%) - due to re-engineering of Optim and product mix

· Underlying operating loss reduced to £0.65m (2013: £0.96m)

· Reported loss after tax reduced to £0.50m (2013: £0.81m)

· Loss per share reduced to 0.01p (31 January 2013: 0.03p)

· Cash at bank £3.25m (31 July 2013: £0.58m)



Operational highlights

· Good progress in Affimers with significant de-risking and advancement of microarray development

· Unique canine lymphoma test launched

· Solid progress in Optim sales particularly in Europe

· Appointment of Dr Trevor Nicholls as Chairman, Dr Matt Johnson to lead Affimer product development and Mr Craig Slater as Group COO

· Placing to raise net proceeds of £4.55m completed in August 2013



Post-period end highlights

· First Affimer revenues through custom Affimer service

· Development of canine pancreatitis test completed

· Dr Michael Albin appointed as Non-executive Director



Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer, commented: "I am pleased with the performance across the Group overall and in particular with the excellent progress in Avacta Life Sciences. The technical performance of Affimers which demonstrates their competitive advantage against antibodies is now established with good supporting data and it is particularly pleasing to see first revenues.



"It is an exciting time for the Group which is poised for growth not only through its existing businesses in Avacta Animal Health and Avacta Analytical, which are both growing and now contributing positively, but also through the enormous potential for the commercial exploitation of our Affimer platform and I look forward to reporting on progress in all areas in the coming months."

Watch here: Avacta Group (AVCT) - Interim Results for the period ending 31st January 2014

Click here to watch
http://www.brrmedia.co.uk/event/123106/dr-alastair-smith-chief-executive-officer

LISTEN: Rare Earth Minerals (REM) - Sonora Lithium Project

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Avacta Announce Collaboration with UbiQ Bio BV

RNS


RNS Number : 6538G

Avacta Group PLC

09 May 2014






9th May 2014

Avacta Group plc

("Avacta" or the "Group")



Avacta announces a collaboration with UbiQ Bio BV



First of a series of new Affimer reagents which opens up an important market that is underserved by antibodies



Avacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the global provider of proprietary diagnostic tools, consumables and reagents for human and animal healthcare, is pleased to announce that it has signed a collaboration deal with UbiQ Bio ("UbiQ"), a leading supplier of ubiquitylated peptides and associated assays.



Ubiquitin is a small protein that is found in humans and animals. It is naturally attached to other proteins in the cell in chains of various lengths and differing linear and branched forms. The ubiquitin-proteasome system was discovered in 2004, leading to its discoverers being awarded the Nobel Prize for Chemistry that year. It has become clear that "ubiquitylation" is a complex "barcode" the purpose of which is poorly understood, but it is thought to be involved in most human diseases and is now one of the most studied processes in biology with huge promise for new therapeutics and diagnostics.



Despite the huge importance of ubiquitylation, and a great deal of effort being expended by antibody companies, only two good antibodies to these various chains have been developed in the last decade. The collaboration with UbiQ, a leading provider of high quality ubiquitylated peptide targets provides Avacta with access to a wide range of the targets needed for screening its Affimer library. The Company will also benefit from the access to UbiQ's experience, network and reputation in the field of ubiquitylation. UbiQ will receive a royalty on sale of ubiquitylation Affimers derived from the targets provided.



Avacta is also very pleased to announce that, where antibodies have struggled, it has generated its first Affimer that binds specifically to an ubiquitin chain target in only a few weeks. Avacta is continuing to build a toolkit of Affimers for the study of ubiquitylation and will make them available as part of an on-line catalogue which will be launched during the summer of 2014.



Alastair Smith, Chief Executive of Avacta said: "This is probably the most important landmark in the Affimer story so far. Avacta is continuing to build a toolkit of Affimers for the study of ubiquitylation and will make them available as part of an on-line catalogue which will be launched during the summer of 2014. Despite huge efforts over the past ten years antibody companies have been unsuccessful in building libraries of ubiquitin specific antibodies. Within a few weeks we have generated Affimers to a specific ubiquitin chain. As a result of the recent financing and this collaboration with UbiQ, we now have the technology and resource and access to ubiquitin chains to create large libraries of ubiquitin specific Affimers. I expect to see a strong collaboration develop in this area with UbiQ and for us to grow a flagship catalogue of Affimers to serve this important application in the study of ubiquitylation".



Alfred Nijkerk, Chief Executive of UbiQ commented: "We are very pleased to be working with Avacta to develop Affimers that bind specifically to ubiquitin chains. This is something that we have wanted to achieve with antibodies for a number of years but with no success, so we are delighted that Avacta has had success so early in our collaboration. We are very excited about the future of this partnership."