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Avacta Group plc, the developer of diagnostics and innovative cancer therapies based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms, is pleased to announce that it has entered into a non-exclusive distribution agreement with Calibre Scientific Inc. (“Calibre”), a global provider of life science products, for Avacta’s AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test for professional use in the UK and European Economic Area (EEA).

Calibre is a diversified global provider of life science products to the diagnostics, healthcare, research, industrial, and biopharmaceutical communities. With headquarters in Los Angeles, California, Calibre has a global reach extending to over 100 countries across a wide array of verticals and geographies.

The non-exclusive distribution agreement for Avacta’s AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test for professional use covers the UK and EEA. The test will be listed on Calibre’s web site and available to be purchased by professional users.

Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group, commented:

“We are delighted that we have put in place this distribution agreement for the AffiDX SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow test for professional use with Calibre. As a high quality, global distributor of diagnostics and life science products with excellent links to our target markets, we are confident Calibre is well placed to support our penetration of the professional end use market in the UK and EEA.

Avacta will continue to focus on developing direct sales opportunities to major corporates and other large scale end users.

We are also in discussion with potential customers in territories outside the UK and EEA, including some of the APAC region, where the additional regulatory approvals required beyond CE marking are minimal.

Lateral flow tests have a crucial role to play in helping societies and the global economy return to normal and Avacta’s AffiDX antigen test, developed in the UK and based on UK technology is well placed to play a significant role in this process.

“I look forward to updating the market on progress over the coming months.”

About Avacta

Avacta Group is developing powerful diagnostics and novel cancer immunotherapies based on its two proprietary platforms - Affimer® biologics and pre|CISION™ tumour targeted chemotherapies.

The Affimer platform is an alternative to antibodies derived from a small human protein. Despite their shortcomings, antibodies currently dominate markets, such as diagnostics and therapeutics, worth in excess of $100bn. Affimer technology has been designed to address many of these negative performance issues, principally: the time taken to generate new antibodies and the reliance on an animal’s immune response; poor specificity in many cases; their large size, complexity and high cost of manufacture.

Avacta’s pre|CISION targeted chemotherapy platform releases active chemotherapy in the tumour, which limits the systemic exposure that causes damage to healthy tissues, and thereby improves the overall safety and therapeutic potential of these powerful anti-cancer treatments.

The Group comprises two divisions: The therapeutics development activities are based in Cambridge, UK and the Group is generating near-term revenues from Affimer reagents for diagnostics, bioprocessing and research, through a separate diagnostics business unit based in Wetherby, UK.

Avacta’s Diagnostics Division works with partners world-wide to develop bespoke Affimer reagents for third party products. The Group is also developing an in-house pipeline of Affimer-based diagnostic assays including the AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 Lateral Flow Rapid Antigen Test and an AffiDX® BAMS™ SARS-CoV-2 Assay in partnership with Adeptrix Inc.

Avacta’s Therapeutics Division is addressing a critical gap in current cancer treatment - the lack of a durable response to current immunotherapies experienced by most patients. By combining its two proprietary platforms the Group is building a wholly owned pipeline of novel cancer therapies deigned to be effective for all cancer patients. In 2021 Avacta will commence a phase 1 first-in-human, open label, dose-escalation and expansion study of AVA6000 Pro-doxorubicin, the Group’s lead pre|CISION™ prodrug, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic selected solid tumours.

Avacta has established drug development partnerships with pharma and biotech, including a research collaboration with ModernaTX, Inc. (formerly Moderna Therapeutics Inc.), a multi-target deal with LG Chem worth up to $400m, a joint venture in South Korea with Daewoong Pharmaceutical focused on cell and gene therapies incorporating Affimer immune-modulators, a partnership with ADC Therapeutics to develop Affimer-drug conjugates and a collaboration with Point Biopharma to develop radiopharmaceuticals based on the pre|CISION™ platform. Avacta continues to actively seek to license its proprietary platforms in a range of therapeutic areas.

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