Avacta Group (AVCT ) has confirmed that the AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen lateral flow test can detect the dominant new variants of the coronavirus as well as the original strain.
The Group, which develops cancer therapies and diagnostics based on its proprietary Affimer® and pre|CISION™ platforms said AffiDX® can detect the dominant new variants known as the B117, or 'Kent', variant and the D614G variant, as well as the original strain.
Due to the mutation of SARS-CoV-2, some of these variants are more infectious, and therefore more rapidly transmissible, and have the potential to become dominant strains.
Early on in the COVID-19 pandemic, the variant referred to as D614G rapidly became the dominant strain globally, while the B117 or "Kent" strain was first detected back in September 2020, with its spread in the UK becoming largely responsible for the third national lockdown.
Since becoming prevalent in the UK, the B117 variant has since been found in more than 50 countries and, according to Professor Sharon Peacock (Professor of Public Health and Microbiology at Cambridge University) is likely to become the next dominant strain globally.
To date, Avacta has carried out analytical tests with the spike proteins isolated from both the B117 and D614G variants, and can now confirm to investors that its AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen lateral flow test detects both of these variants as well as the original strain.
“We will continue to monitor the performance of the Affimer reagents with future dominant variants as they become available to us. Since the Affimer reagents we use in Avacta's range of SARS-CoV-2 tests do not bind in the region of the spike protein where the dominant mutations appear, we do not anticipate that the performance of the tests will be affected.
Now that we have developed a robust lateral flow test architecture, we can easily insert Affimer reagents that can be very rapidly developed for new variants if necessary, and indeed in response to any other future pandemic virus,” said CEO, Dr Alastair Smith.
He said the Group’s next key milestone will be a full clinical validation and CE marking of its lateral flow antigen test which it anticipates will be around the end of this quarter. He told investors that he “looks forward to updating the market when that milestone is achieved."
Today’s news confirming that the SARS-CoV-2 test can detect the new COVID-19 variants provides the Group with confidence ahead of Avacta’s next milestone, which is to achieve full clinical validation and CE marking for the AffiDX® rapid antigen lateral flow test. In theory, today’s news should mean the Group’s technology is flexible enough to re-engineer Affimers that can attach themselves to most, if not all mutated protein spikes.
Shares in Avacta Group have risen by over 60% since the start of February 2021 when it returned “extremely encouraging” results from first data received for its antigen test from its ongoing clinical studies in Europe and the UK. Over a longer timeframe, the shares have increased more than 10x since April 2020 to trade 7.54% higher this morning at 214p with investors looking for similar returns in 2021 following further positive Newsflow.
Reasons to Follow AVCT
Avacta is developing cancer immunotherapies and diagnostics based on its two proprietary platforms - Affimer® biologics and pre|CISION™ tumour targeted chemotherapies.
Its 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, which is a market that is believed to be worth in excess of $100bn.
Therapeutics
The 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.
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 Company is building a wholly owned pipeline of novel cancer therapies designed to be effective for all cancer patients.
In 2021, Avacta commenced a phase 1 first-in-human, open label, dose-escalation and expansion study of AVA6000 Pro-doxorubicin, the Company's lead pre|CISIONTM prodrug, in patients with locally advanced or metastatic selected solid tumours.
COVID-19 Test Development
Avacta has also developed a SARS-CoV-2 lateral flow rapid antigen test aimed at identifying infectious individuals so that they can isolate promptly and reduce the spread of COVID-19.
Recent data returned earlier this week from the Company’s ongoing clinical studies across Europe and the UK demonstrated an ‘excellent performance’ of the SARS-CoV-2 rapid antigen test in identifying patients with an infectious viral load and no false positive results.
As a result of ‘excellent initial data’, the Company said it will now progress to a full clinical validation with a larger number of patient samples to CE mark the test for professional use, aiming to bring the test to market in Europe around the end of the first quarter of this year.
These data from the first clinical studies will allow it the Group to advance into a full clinical validation of the test, manufactured at scale, at its clinical trial sites in the UK and the EU.
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