Wetherby-based clinical stage oncology drug company Avacta Group plc announced that AffyXell, its joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceuticals has successfully completed a funding round to advance its lead mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) programme towards the clinic “and to develop its wider pre-clinical pipeline of cell therapies.”
Avacta said: “AffyXell is a joint venture established in January 2020 by Daewoong Pharmaceuticals and Avacta, developing the next generation of cell and gene therapies based on mesenchymal stem cells which incorporate Affimer immunotherapies.
” This new class of stem cell therapy is designed to produce Affimer proteins, in situ in the body, that reduce inflammatory or autoimmune responses to the stem cell therapy to potentially enhance their therapeutic effects.
“The proceeds of the fundraise, which remain undisclosed for reasons of confidentiality, from existing and new financial and strategic investors, will allow the company to progress through significant value inflection points.
“The funds will be used to support Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies which will underpin a regulatory filing to take its lead programme into the clinic.
“The funding will also allow AffyXell to develop the broader pipeline of cell therapies to address a wide range of immune diseases with high unmet needs, and to reinforce its platform IP portfolio.”
Avacta Group CEO Dr Alastair Smith said: “We are delighted with the continued strong progress made by AffyXell.
“This joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical is a key strategic collaboration allowing us to demonstrate the potential of the Affimer platform to enhance cell therapies generally, as well as providing an opportunity to address high unmet need in AffyXell’s focus area of immune diseases.”
Dr Jong Sang Ryu, Chief Executive Officer of AffyXell said: “I am very pleased that we have raised the capital required to accelerate the development of therapies using AFX platform targeting intractable diseases and providing meaningful options for suffering patients, especially in the immunology area.”