– UK, London – Avacta Group plc (LON: AVCT), a clinical-stage oncology drug company and developer of powerful diagnostics based on its innovative Affimer and pre|CISION platforms, today announced the appointment of Dr. Mark Goldberg to its Board as Non-executive Director with immediate effect.
“I am delighted that Mark will be joining the Board of Avacta. Mark’s wealth of experience and expertise will be invaluable as we progress our pipeline of proprietary Affimer and pre|CISION platforms into clinical stage assets.” said Board Chairman, Dr Eliot Forster.
Dr. Alastair Smith, the CEO, added: “I am very pleased to welcome Mark to the Board. Mark is a vastly experienced biotech executive and oncologist and Avacta will benefit greatly from his future contributions to the strategy and vision for the therapeutic business.”
About Dr. Mark Goldberg
Dr. Mark Goldberg is a medical oncologist and hematologist on the faculty of Brigham & Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School, a veteran biotech executive, and long-time American Cancer Society and ACS Cancer Action Network volunteer. Dr. Goldberg is the past-chair of the Eastern New England Area Board of the American Cancer Society and currently serves as a member of its national board of directors.
Dr. Goldberg currently serves on the boards of directors of ImmunoGen, Idera Pharmaceuticals, GlycoMimetics, Walden Biosciences, and Blueprint Medicines. Dr. Goldberg served on the board of directors of Audentes Therapeutics up to its acquisition by Astellas Pharma in 2020. Dr. Goldberg previously served on the executive management team of Synageva Biopharma from 2011-2014 and before that served in various management capacities of increasing responsibility at Genzyme Corporation from 1996-2011, most recently as senior vice president of clinical development.
Dr. Mark Goldberg, said: “I find the Affimer and pre|CISION platforms to be very innovative. I look forward to joining the Board and working with my new Board colleagues and the Avacta management team to develop novel therapies that will improve the lives of patients suffering from cancer.”
About Avacta Group plc
Avacta Group is developing novel cancer immunotherapies and powerful diagnostics based on its two proprietary platforms – Affimer biologics and pre|CISION tumor-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 more than $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 tumor, 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 worldwide 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 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 designed to be effective for all cancer patients. In 2021 Avacta a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company, commencing 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 tumors.
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 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.
For more information: https://www.avacta.com
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