Avacta leads way with product launch
SCIENCE company Avacta has said its “world leading” expertise would help it make the transition from a research and development company to revenue generating organisation as it unveiled its flagship technology product.
The York-based University of Leeds spin-out business has high hopes for ‘Optim’, a laboratory instrument designed to perform advanced biophysical analysis on small biological samples.
Avacta said the tool would be prove important for drug developers to gain vital information about their compunds’ performance at an early stage, reducing the failure rate and helping to bring products to market quicker.
The company said it was developing follow-on products that will complement Optim and deliver a full “protein analysis workstation” for drug developers, including ‘Midas’ which is on target for launch later this year.
Midas will be aimed at detecting disease markers in fluids such as blood and urine and will be initially focused on the veterinary diagnostics market.
Avacta said there was no direct competition for Optim and that it would look to gain access to the global market for its use through commercial partners.
The company, which helps biopharmaceutical developers and manufacturers get their products to market quicker, saw losses for the six months ended January 31 increase to £972,000 compared to £542,000 for the same period last year. Revenues remained flat at £203,000.
Despite the marked increase in losses, chief executive Alastair Smith was upbeat about Avacta’s future.
Mr Smith said: “Avacta is in the transition period from a research and development phase toward being a revenue generating, high value products and services company.
“In almost all regards it has met our ambitious expectations within the short period since our formation and we believe that in our field, our expertise is world leading.”
Mr Smith said of Optim: “Optim is the first in a range of high value analytical products for the biopharmaceutical sector which Avacta has under development and we believe that the substantial benefits it has to offer to end users are very clear.
“Avacta is capable of using biophysics to revolutionise the way in which biological samples, such as biopharmaceuticals or clinical samples, can be analysed rapidly.
“In delivering an instrument for biopharmaceutical developers, we have targeted the largest immediate market that Avacta can address and we are looking forward to the wider application of our core technology in diagnostics and elsewhere.”
Avacta has been busy in the deals market in recent months acquiring veterinary testing business YorkTest Veterinary Services, as well as Curidium Medica and Theragenetics, which which both operate in the field of personalised medicine for central nervous system disorders such as schizophrenia and depression.
The three companies were acquired for a total of almost £10m.
