Avacta Group PLC, a life sciences company focused on targeted oncology drugs and diagnostics, has applied to AIM for a block listing of 6,613,808 ordinary shares. These shares will be used to facilitate the admission of shares to trading following the exercise of options granted under two share schemes. The block listing is expected to become effective on 26 April 2024, and the company will continue to make six-monthly announcements of the utilization of the block admission, in line with its obligations under AIM Rule 29.
The ordinary shares will be issued from time to time pursuant to the company's existing plans, including outstanding options already issued but not yet exercised to the employees of the company. New ordinary shares issued following option exercises and admitted to trading under the block admission will rank pari passu in all respects with the existing ordinary shares. At the time of the announcement, Avacta has 359,042,104 ordinary shares in issue, which may be used by shareholders in the company as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change in their interest in, the share capital of the company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
Avacta Group PLC is a UK-based life sciences company with two divisions focused on therapeutics and diagnostics. Avacta Therapeutics is a clinical stage oncology biotech division harnessing proprietary therapeutic platforms to develop novel, highly targeted cancer drugs. Avacta Diagnostics is focused on supporting healthcare professionals and broadening access to diagnostics. The company has two proprietary platforms, pre|CISION™ and Affimer®, which are aimed at improving healthcare outcomes through targeted cancer treatments and diagnostics.
The pre|CISION™ platform is a highly specific substrate for fibroblast activation protein (FAP), which is upregulated in most solid tumors compared with healthy tissues. The pre|CISION™ platform harnesses this tumor-specific protease to activate pre|CISION™ peptide drug conjugates and pre|CISION™ antibody/Affimer® drug conjugates in the tumor microenvironment, reducing systemic exposure and toxicity, allowing dosing to be optimized to deliver the best outcomes for patients.