Avacta Group
plc
("Avacta"
or the "Group" or the "Company")
Issue of Equity and Total
Voting Rights
London - Oct. 21, 2024 - Avacta Therapeutics (AIM:
AVCT), a life sciences company
developing innovative, targeted oncology drugs, today announces it
has issued and allotted a total of 5,930,659 new ordinary shares of
10 pence each in the Company ("New Ordinary Shares").
The New Ordinary Shares are being
issued in settlement of the quarterly principal of £2.55 million
and interest repayment of £0.54 million in respect of the Company's
unsecured convertible bond.
After settlement of the quarterly
repayment, the principal remaining under the convertible bond will
be reduced by £2.55 million to £30.60 million.
The Company originally issued the
unsecured convertible bond in October 2022 to fund the acquisition
of a diagnostic business, provide additional funding for a
diagnostics roll-up strategy and provide working capital for the
Group. More recently the Board has consistently communicated
its strategy to become a pure play biotechnology company and focus
its resources on its drug development activities. Maintaining an
appropriate level of cash on the balance sheet is fundamental for
biotechnology companies at Avacta's stage of
development.
The Board carefully considers each
payment separately as it arises and took the following additional
factors into account when determining to settle this quarterly
payment via the issue of New Ordinary Shares: the stage of the
process to divest of the Group's Diagnostics Division (which
continues to progress but remains broadly as disclosed in the
Company's interim results issued on 30 September 2024) and
shareholder dilution.
The Avacta management team and Board
continue to explore all available pathways to provide optionality
for financing its clinical therapeutics programs over the longer
term, including divestment of the Diagnostics Division, partnering,
attracting global specialist biotechnology investors and
potentially a NASDAQ dual listing, on which further updates will be
provided in the coming months.
Application has been made to AIM for
the admission to trading of the 5,930,659 New Ordinary Shares
resulting from the conversion, which is expected to occur at or
around 8.00 am on 23 October 2024 ("Admission"). The New Ordinary
Shares will rank pari passu with the existing Ordinary Shares of
the Company.
Following Admission, the Company's
enlarged issued share capital will be 369,306,389. This figure may
be used by shareholders in the Company as the denominator for the
calculations by which they will determine if they are required to
notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in, the
share capital of the Company under the Financial Conduct
Authority's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
For
further information from Avacta Group plc, please
contact:
About the pre|CISION® Platform
The
pre|CISION® platform comprises an anticancer payload conjugated to a
proprietary peptide that is a highly specific substrate for
fibroblast activation protein (FAP) which is upregulated in most
solid tumors compared with healthy tissues. The
pre|CISION® platform harnesses this tumor specific protease to cleave
pre|CISION® peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION® antibody/Affimer® drug conjugates in the tumor
microenvironment, thus releasing active payload in the tumor and
reducing systemic exposure and toxicity, allowing dosing to be
optimized to deliver the best outcomes for patients.
About AVA6000
The lead
pre|CISION® program AVA6000, a peptide drug conjugate form of doxorubicin,
is in Phase 1 studies. It has shown an improvement in safety and
tolerability in clinical trials to date compared with standard
doxorubicin and preliminary signs of clinical activity in multiple
patients.To register for news alerts by email go
to https://avacta.com/investors/investor-news-email-alerts/.
About Avacta Group plc - https://avacta.com/
Avacta Group is a UK-based
life sciences company focused on improving healthcare outcomes
through targeted cancer treatments and diagnostics. Its clinical
stage oncology biotech division Avacta Therapeutics is harnessing
the proprietary pre|CISION® platform technology to develop
novel, highly targeted cancer drugs. Avacta
Diagnostics focuses on supporting healthcare professionals and
broadening access to diagnostics. To register for news alerts by
email go to https://avacta.com/investors/investor-news-email-alerts/.