REG-Avacta Group plc: Re Agreement

Released: 28/09/2009

 
Avacta Group plc                                
               Commercialisation of flagship technology - Optim                
           Reducing risk and costs for biopharmaceutical developers            
Avacta Group plc ("Avacta" or the "Company"), the company providing innovative,
high value technologies and services to the pharmaceutical and diagnostics
markets, is pleased to announce the first order from a global biopharmaceutical
developer for its recently launched flagship product Optim, an analytical
technology that is designed to reduce risk in biopharmaceutical development and
help drug companies bring optimised products to market quicker and at lower
cost.
The Directors believe that this is a significant and pivotal step for the
Company as it provides validation for its flagship product and a clear
demonstration of market demand.
Optim fills a significant gap in the market providing detailed analysis using
only very small sample volumes. For the first time this enables drug developers
to gain vital information about product performance in the early stages of
product development, when very limited quantities of material are available,
helping to reduce the risk of later stage failure.
An Optim system can cost up to £100k. However, since Optim uses minute amounts
of sample and is fully automated, it can deliver results in a fraction of the
time and at a fraction of the cost of other methods and can therefore yield a
return on investment for customers in only a few months.
Additionally Optim has several hardware/software add-ons and consumables
currently being developed in response to other clearly identified market needs.
These add-ons will, when integrated with Optim, build up a comprehensive and
unique biophysical analysis system for biopharmaceutical drug developers. The
Company is committed to bring these additional products to market as quickly as
possible.
Alastair Smith, Chief Executive, Avacta Group, commented:
"Optim is designed to revolutionise the way in which biological drugs are
developed. It will make a major contribution to optimizing product performance
and reducing the risk and cost of drug development, particularly when applied
in the early stages of the drug development process when it could identify
problems that cause expensive later stage product failure. Optim will help drug
developers bring better products to market quicker and more cheaply, which
should result in a reduction in the cost of these new drugs to patients.
"I am delighted to announce to the market that we have converted the first
order from a strong pipeline and that the very positive response we have
received from our discussions with potential customers gives us confidence in
future sales levels.
"We will continue to work hard towards building a strong, profitable Group
focused on providing high value products and services to support businesses in
the Life Sciences sector through commercialization of our own technology and
potentially through further acquisitions."
                                                            28th September 2009
Enquiries:
Avacta Group plc                       Tel: 0870 835 4367                    
Alastair Smith, Chief Executive        www.avacta.com                        
Officer                                                                      
                                                                             
Haggie Financial LLP                   Tel: 020 7417 8989                    
Kathy Boate/Nicholas Nelson            Kathy.boate@haggie.co.uk              
                                                                             
Nominated Adviser:                     Tel: 020 7776 6550                    
Daniel Stewart & Company Plc                                                 
Simon Leathers                                                               
                                                                             
Novum Securities Limited               Tel: 020 7399 9400                    
Henry Turcan                                                                 
Notes to Editors:
About Avacta
Avacta was spun-out from the University of Leeds in 2004 by its current
management team as a biophysics company, with the aim of combining the
disciplines of physics and biology to develop innovative technologies and
expert technical services to address unmet needs in the biopharmaceutical and
healthcare sectors. Avacta has a core bio-analytical technology development
programme addressing the needs of the biopharmaceutical sector to fully
characterise their new products at the earliest stage in their development to
reduce the risk of late stage failure. High end analytical instruments and
leading edge contract research services are being provided to the
biopharmaceutical and healthcare/personal-care materials sectors through the
Group's biotech support division, Avacta Analytical. High value solutions for
rapid, point of care diagnostics based on these core bio-analytical
technologies, with a near term focus on veterinary diagnostics, are being
delivered through Avacta Animal Health. Longer term these technologies will be
transferred into the human clinical diagnostics market. Avacta listed on AIM in
August 2006.
END