Monday Interview: CEO of listed biotech firm, Avacta

Located on the edge of Wetherby, scientists working at listed biotech firm Avacta Group are at the forefront of healthcare innovation, creating and testing Affimer – biotheraputics and reagents that the firm’s CEO is confident will be commercialised in the near future.

Speaking to TheBusinessDesk.com, CEO Alastair Smith said it was in 2012 that the firm bought the IP for Affimers after “realising their potential.”

These binding proteins can be applied to treat illnesses when and where antibodies and aptamers are unable to. Avacta has a current market capitalisation of £25m and Smith has been at the helm since the business was founded in 2005, leading the firm through IPO. In its latest annual financial results, for the year to 31 July 2018, the firm saw revenues increase 1% to £2.8m and pre-tax losses widen to £10.4m from £7.9m. Post period end, Avacta conducted a £11.6m fundraise to advance two of its programmes.

The business, which employs 40 people at its head office as well as having a presence in Cambridge, employs around 30 scientists. Smith said that the biotech firm was “absolutely at the forefront of innovation”, working on treatments including Immuno‑Oncology, for example. This is a treatment which uses the body’s immune system to help fight cancer. “We have had lots of success with this, it’s one of the hottest areas of oncology,” explained Smith.

He said he was now focused on organic growth of the firm, growing a pipeline of therapeutic Affimers backed up by data for potential investors to feel confident backing. Avacta has enjoyed recent success in gaining commercial partnerships and Smith is very confident of securing further licence/partnerships deals in the coming 12 months and of  securing the first clinical trial by 2020.

“One of the things we need to do now is to get public markets not to be wary about biotech firms and to see the commercialisation of products and partnerships. Most people don’t understand the science, so they are unable to measure risks themselves.

“One great way of gaining validation is drug development partnerships and the only way to do that is to provide the data and so we are building a pipeline and the more we have in the pipeline, the more that will lead to further programmes,” he explained.

In October, Avacta secured a commercial license so that New England Biolabs (NEB) can commercialise a product using the Affimer technology for use in both life science research and diagnostics assays. Smith anticipates confirming another partnership in Q1 of 2019.

Asked where he could see future commercial partnerships coming from, Smith added: “The appetite for innovation and risk is higher in Asia than in Europe or the US. I would like to see deals coming in from Asia.”

He said that appetite for investing in life sciences was higher in the USA than in the UK, demonstrated by the fact that America had specialist investors in the field.

“What we have got is really very exciting now. We are in touching distance of getting to clinic,” added Smith, who worked in academia – including Leeds University from 1995 – until he left in 2007 to work full-time at Avacta.

Avacta is a “capital intensive business”  he added, with a need to always invests in research and development, specialist staff and the latest technology. The Wetherby building also has space to expand should it be needed in the future.

Smith said he would like to see more of a biotech hub in Yorkshire, as the region was becoming a leading area of expertise, as this would attract even more talent to the area and also see further firms invest in the region. He said it would “make a difference” to have more of a “critical mass” such as the Cambridge biotech hub which attracts and retains firms and therefore the right skills and talent.

Of his role in developing future treatments for major illnesses, Smith said: “I am pretty lucky to be doing this. It is a job I very much enjoy and am able to make a difference. Getting from phase one to phase two is incredibly exciting – especially as we can show we can improves people’s lives.”