AVACTA GROUP PLC — M&A Activity 2014

Jul 15, 2014

National Storage Mechanism | Additional information

You don't have Javascript enabled. For full functionality this page requires javascript to be enabled.

RNS Number : 2890M

Avacta Group PLC

15 July 2014

Avacta Group plc

("Avacta" or the "Group")

Major Japanese Distributor Signed

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 appointed Cosmo Bio Co Ltd (Cosmo), one of the leading Japanese life sciences R&D suppliers, as distributor in Japan for Affimers.

Cosmo has been selling reagents such as antibodies and enzymes, cell and tissue culture materials, separation and purification systems and protein engineering products in Japan for over 30 years to academic laboratories, research institutes and testing organisations. With a network of around 200 agents throughout Japan and servicing over 400 international manufacturers, Cosmo is one of the largest and most established life sciences reagents and equipment suppliers in Japan.

Affimers are an engineered alternative to antibodies. They have been designed to address many of the negative performance issues currently experienced with antibodies; namely, the time taken to generate new antibodies, specificity and batch to batch variation. Affimers can be engineered to bind with high specificity and affinity to a wide range of protein targets thereby creating a very large menu of affinity reagents to address gaps in the antibody reagents market and compete directly with existing antibody products.

Avacta is now focusing on the commercialisation of Affimers via its custom Affimer services and, later in the year, through an on-line catalogue of reagents. Avacta has secured first sales of Affimers through its services activity in which its extensive library of Affimers is screened to generate binders to new targets provided by the customer. This screening service takes seven weeks from receiving the target to providing the customer with samples of the fully characterised Affimer to be used in the their assay or other process or product. This is in comparison with the many months or even years it can take to generate high quality antibodies to new targets. Avacta is making good progress in populating its Affimer catalogue which will launch in late summer with a range of Affimers against some common targets and also against some high value targets for which antibody companies have failed to generate antibodies.

Cosmo will market and support both the custom Affimer services and the catalogue reagents sales in Japan which is the world's second largest life sciences market according to UK Trade Investment.

Alastair Smith, Chief Executive of Avacta said: "Japan is an important market for us and Cosmo are an excellent partner who are associated with some well known reagent suppliers. They have an excellent reputation for customer support and a wide network throughout Japan. We expect to begin generating revenues in Japan first through our custom Affimer services and, later in the year through sales of Affimers from our catalogue which Cosmo will market and support.  I look forward to updating the market on this activity and on other partnerships for Affimers in due course."

Toshiaki Kasamatsu, President of Cosmo said: "We are proud to distribute the custom Affimer services and the catalogue reagents into the Japanese research market. Affimers are a quite unique recombinant protein research tool showing specific binding activity. They also show long stability and reproducibility as an alternate to antibodies, and we hope this technology will be used widely in the life science research field. We have a keen desire to support the development of the life science market, and are proud to introduce the Affimer technology in Japan which provides specific advantages to researchers who pursue new understanding in life sciences. Cosmo Bio is pleased to be the best partner for researchers in this field."

Enquiries:

Avacta Group plc Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer Tim Sykes, Chief Financial Officer	Tel:  +44 (0) 844 414 0452 www.avacta.com
Numis Securities Limited     Michael Meade / Freddie Barnfield - Nominated Adviser James Black - Corporate Broking	Tel:  +44 (0) 207 260 1000 www.numiscorp.com
Media Enquiries Walbrook PR Ltd Mike Wort / Anna Dunphy	Tel: +44 (0) 207 933 8780 avacta@walbrookpr.com

About Avacta Group plc - www.avacta.com

Avacta Group plc is a global provider of innovative technologies, consumables and reagents for the life science markets, from drug discovery to diagnostics. Avacta operates through three divisions:

Avacta Analytical www.avactaanalytical.com	High throughput analysis instrument, Optim, to help reduce the cost and risk of drug development.
Avacta Animal Health www.avactaanimalhealth.com	Veterinary diagnostics reference laboratory, diagnostic kits and newly launched in-clinic blood analyser, Sensipod.
Avacta Life Sciences www.avactalifesciences.com	Novel non-antibody affinity reagents called Affimers, with a wide range of Life Science applications in diagnostics, drug and biomarker discover and biotech research and development.

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

END

MSCEAXXLFFSLEFF