What Avacta Group does

Avacta Group plc is a UK-based, AIM-listed clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing tumor-activated peptide drug conjugates (PDCs) for oncology. Following the 2025 divestiture of its diagnostics businesses (Launch Diagnostics for £12.9M and Coris Bioconcept for £2.15M), the company operates as a pure-play oncology therapeutics business. Its proprietary pre|CISION® platform links a peptide to an existing cancer drug to inactivate it; the peptide is cleaved only by fibroblast activation protein (FAP), which is expressed in approximately 90% of solid tumors, allowing payload release exclusively at the tumor site while the conjugate remains inert in systemic circulation. The Affimer® platform — a ~15kDa protein scaffold derived from stefin A — provides a complementary technology for engineered biotherapeutics and Affimer-drug conjugates (AffDC), with advantages over antibodies including smaller size, higher stability, and the ability to bind difficult targets such as GPCRs.

The clinical pipeline includes AVA6000 (faridoxorubicin, Gen One doxorubicin PDC) in Phase 1a/1b with reported favorable cardiac safety enabling removal of the lifetime maximum dose limit; AVA6103 (FAP-Exd, Gen Two sustained-release exatecan PDC) in the Phase 1 FOCUS-01 trial with first patient dosed in March 2026; preclinical AVA6207 (Gen Three dual-payload PDC); and earlier-stage AVA7100 (AffDC) and AVA3996 (FAP-α-activated proteasome inhibitor). Preclinical data for AVA6103 reportedly shows one-log higher maximal tumor concentration and nearly 3x the Tumor Selectivity Index of Enhertu®. The company is generating negligible product revenue (FY2025 Therapeutics revenue of £0.11M) and recorded a £37.06M loss from continuing operations. Its commercial model is pre-commercial: Phase 1 trials are conducted at specialist US oncology centers (Virginia Cancer Specialists, NEXT Oncology, START Midwest) and management is exploring pharmaceutical partnership opportunities and a potential NASDAQ dual listing to support future commercialization. The company holds 19 patent families across 11 jurisdictions and has raised approximately £41.5M over the past 18 months through equity placements and a convertible bond, with cash balances of £16.9M at year-end 2025.

Avacta serves two primary customer segments: (1) oncology patients with advanced solid tumors — including pancreatic, cervical/vulvar, gastric/GEJ, small cell lung, salivary gland, and soft tissue sarcoma cancers — who have exhausted standard treatment options and stand to benefit from targeted chemotherapy with reduced systemic toxicity; and (2) large pharmaceutical companies that may license or co-develop pre|CISION®-enabled candidates for broader commercialization. The go-to-market motion is enterprise field sales in nature, conducted via specialist clinical trial sites and through investor and scientific conference engagement (AACR, ESMO, EORTC-NCI-AACR, TD Cowen Healthcare Conference). Strategic collaboration with Tempus AI supports biomarker-driven indication selection, while intellectual property comprises 19 patent families covering both core platforms and program-specific applications.

Name

Avacta Group

Legal name

Avacta Life Sciences Limited

Website

https://avacta.com

Company type

Public

Founded year

2008

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Avacta Group plc is a UK-based, AIM-listed clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing tumor-activated peptide drug conjugates for oncology using its proprietary pre|CISION® and Affimer® platforms. It targets advanced solid tumor patients through Phase 1 trials at US specialist oncology centers, with future revenue dependent on pharmaceutical licensing partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Oncology Biopharmaceuticals

NAICS

Research and Development in Biotechnology (except Nanobiotechnology) (541714)

SIC

Biological Products, (No Disgnostic Substances) (2836), Pharmaceutical Preparations (2834)

akta.pro primary industry

Protein Engineering & Directed Evolution Platforms (enzyme/therapeutic protein optimization) (HLAAAIAC)

akta.pro secondary industries

Antibody Discovery & Engineering Platforms (display tech, bispecifics, Fc engineering) (HLAAAIAB), Bispecific & Multispecific Antibodies (HLAAAAAF)

Keywords

• Peptide drug conjugates
• Oncology drug development
• Tumor-activated therapeutics
• Biopharmaceutical pipeline
• Targeted cancer therapy

Headquarters

HQ city

Wetherby

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices5 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Others

Revenue model

1. Therapeutics R&D: Pre-revenue clinical stage company. Generated £0.11 million in revenue from Therapeutics division in FY2025. Currently focused on advancing clinical pipeline through Phase 1 trials.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels7 records

Core offering

Avacta Group plc is a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company developing oncology therapeutics based on two proprietary platforms: pre|CISION®, a tumor-activated drug delivery system that releases payloads at tumor sites via FAP cleavage, and Affimer®, a ~15kDa protein scaffold used for targeted biotherapeutics and drug conjugates. The pipeline consists of peptide drug conjugates including AVA6000 (doxorubicin PDC, Phase 1b), AVA6103 (exatecan PDC, Phase 1 FOCUS-01), and pre-clinical programs AVA6207 (dual payload), AVA7100 (AffDC), AVA3996 (proteasome inhibitor PDC), and AVA032 (Affimer-IL-15).

Product overview

Avacta Group is a pure-play oncology biopharmaceutical company developing a pipeline of peptide drug conjugates (PDCs) powered by two proprietary technology platforms: pre|CISION® and Affimer®. The pre|CISION® platform is a tumor-activated drug delivery technology that releases payloads exclusively at tumor sites via FAP enzyme cleavage. The Affimer® platform provides small protein scaffolds for biotherapeutic development. The current clinical pipeline includes Gen One AVA6000 (faridoxorubicin) in Phase 1b, Gen Two AVA6103 (FAP-Exd) in Phase 1, and Gen Three AVA6207 (dual payload) in pre-clinical development. Additional programs include AVA7100 and AVA3996. The company previously operated a diagnostics division (Launch Diagnostics and Coris Bioconcept) which has been divested as part of the transition to a pure-play therapeutics company.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• pre|CISION: Tumor-activated drug delivery platform that enables precise delivery of cytotoxic payloads directly to tumors, reducing systemic toxicity
• Affimer
• AffiDX
• Faridoxorubicin (AVA6000)
• FAP-Exd (AVA6103)

Products and services

• pre|CISION® Platform

Quantifiable outcome

• Nearly 3x higher Tumor Selectivity Index (TSI) compared to Enhertu® in preclinical studies
• +3 more outcomes

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability1 record

Feature5 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• 3B BlackBio Dx LtdminorOthers · 29 August 2025Buyer of Coris Bioconcept SRL for £2.15 million upfront consideration with additional earn-out up to £0.615 million. Completion took place on August 29, 2025.
• Duomed Belgium NV (Palex Healthcare Group)minorOthers · 25 March 2025Buyer of Launch Diagnostics Holdings Limited for £12.9 million. Completion took place in March 2025. Duomed is a subsidiary of Palex Healthcare Group S.L.U.
• Tempus AIcoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 30 October 2024Strategic collaboration using Tempus AI's data mining capabilities to investigate gene co-expression patterns (SLFN11 and FAP) for predicting cancer patient sensitivity to pre|CISION®-enabled therapies. This AI approach was used to select initial cancer indications for the FOCUS-01 Phase 1 trial of AVA6103.
• Medusa Healthcare (Medusa 19 Healthcare)minorChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 22 December 2021Exclusive arrangement with Medusa to commercialize the AffiDX® SARS-CoV-2 antigen lateral flow self-test product globally under the brand name MeduFlow. Medusa obtained CE mark for consumer self-testing.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Pyxis Oncology: Pyxis Oncology is a clinical-stage ADC company developing novel antibody-drug conjugates for solid tumors. It directly competes with Avacta's pre|CISION platform in the oncology targeted payload delivery space.
• Bolt Biotherapeutics: Bolt Biotherapeutics develops immune-stimulating antibody conjugates (ISACs) — a novel ADC-like platform that pairs tumor-targeted delivery with immune activation. As a clinical-stage platform oncology company, it overlaps with Avacta's strategy of using targeted delivery to enhance therapeutic index.
• Mersana Therapeutics: Mersana develops next-generation ADCs using its Dolasynthen and Immunosynthen platforms, competing directly with Avacta's pre|CISION in oncology payload delivery. Both are clinical-stage oncology platform companies targeting solid tumors.
• Bicycle Therapeutics: Bicycle Therapeutics develops bicyclic peptide drug conjugates (BCAs), a peptide-based targeted therapy platform analogous to Avacta's pre|CISION. Both companies use peptide scaffolds to deliver cytotoxic payloads with tumor selectivity, making them the closest direct peers in the PDC space.
• ADC Therapeutics: ADC Therapeutics is a clinical and commercial-stage ADC company with Zynlonta approved for lymphoma and multiple pipeline candidates. It represents a directly competing ADC platform in the broader oncology drug conjugate space.
• CytomX Therapeutics: CytomX develops Probody therapeutics, a conditionally activated antibody platform that is masked until activated by tumor-associated proteases. This shares Avacta's core concept of tumor-activated drug delivery, though using antibodies rather than peptides.
• Ambrx Biopharma: Ambrx develops engineered antibody-drug conjugates using site-specific conjugation and novel payloads. Its platform approach to ADC development with engineered biologics is comparable to Avacta's AffDC (Affimer drug conjugate) strategy.

Broad incumbents

• AbCellera Biologics: AbCellera is a large clinical-stage biologics discovery company with a proprietary antibody platform. While broader in scope, its technology platform approach (engineered antibodies for therapeutic applications) is comparable to Avacta's Affimer platform.
• Daiichi Sankyo: Daiichi Sankyo is the global ADC leader with Enhertu (the benchmark Avacta uses for preclinical comparison). Its DXd ADC platform and deep oncology commercial infrastructure represent the dominant competitive force in the ADC market.

Emerging players

• ProfoundBio: ProfoundBio is an early-stage ADC company developing next-generation conjugates with novel payloads and linkers. As a private oncology platform peer, it represents an emerging competitor in the targeted cancer therapy space.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks7 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/avactaplc
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/avacta-analytical
• Facebookfacebook.com/Avacta

Compliance2 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles8 records

Subsidiaries3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

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M&A7 records

Investments1 record

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Avacta Group