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Avacta and Daewoong Establish Joint Venture
Avacta and Daewoong Establish Joint Venture.
About this update from Avacta Group Plc
[{"type":"text","content":"\n \nRNS Number : 1128Z Avacta Group PLC 08 January 2020 \n\n \n \n \n8 January 2020\nAvacta Group plc\n(\"Avacta\" or \"the Group\" or \"the Company\")\n \nAvacta and Daewoong Establish Joint Venture \n \nCollaboration to develop next generation cell and gene therapies incorporating Affimer proteins \n \nAvacta Group plc (AIM: AVCT), the developer of Affimer® biotherapeutics and reagents, is pleased to announce that it has agreed to establish a joint venture in South Korea with Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., (KSX: 069620), a leading Korean pharmaceutical company, and to enter into a collaboration and license agreement for the joint venture to develop the next generation of cell and gene therapies, incorporating Affimer proteins to enhance the immune-modulatory effects. \n \nMesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are promising agents for the treatment of autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The joint venture will develop a new class of MSCs that are primed to produce Affimer proteins, which are designed to enhance the immune-modulatory effect when administered to patients, by reducing inflammatory and autoimmune responses.\n \nAvacta will develop Affimer proteins against several undisclosed targets which will be transferred to the joint venture to be incorporated into MSCs. Avacta's research and development costs will be fully covered by the joint venture which is funded by Daewoong. Avacta retains the rights to commercialise the Affimer proteins outside of the field of cell therapies.\n \nDaewoong will provide the joint venture with access to its proprietary technology for generating allogeneic MSCs from a single donor to treat a large number of patients. This proprietary technology facilitates the development of cell therapies as \"off-the-shelf\" products. \n \nAvacta's shareholding in the joint venture is 45%. The joint venture will be operationally managed by Seng-ho Jeon, CEO of Daewoong, with a Board composed of representatives of both Avacta (Alastair Smith, CEO and Matthew Vincent, VP Business Development and Strategy) and Daewoong. \n \nDr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group, commented: \n\"Cell and gene therapies are attracting intense clinical and commercial interest. We are very excited to e...