Avacta raises more than £1m in funding

YORKSHIRE university science spin-out company Avacta announced that it has raised more than £1m to help it provide products and services to the life sciences sector.

The York-based Leeds University spin-out biophysics company develops detection and analysis technology and services aimed at the pharmaceutical, healthcare, security and industrial sectors.

The group said it has raised £1.38m before expenses from a conditional placing of new ordinary shares of 0.1 pence each at a price of 1.0 pence per ordinary share.

Avacta said that the cash proceeds of the placing will be used to take the group from its current position towards its near term goal of being a profitable business providing products and services to support the life sciences sector.

Since joining AIM in late 2006 Avacta has achieved its stated milestones by delivering products and services and establishing routes to market through two
operating businesses, Avacta Analytical and Avacta Animal Health, in its target
markets of drug development and diagnostics.

The company has announced the first sales of its first product, Optim, which is designed to significantly reduce risk and cost in the biopharmaceutical drug development process.

Four units have now been ordered, the latest to a global biomanufacturing systems supplier.

Avacta said: “Whilst the order intake in the current difficult economic climate has been slower than hoped for, the pipeline of validated enquiries is very encouraging and the company is confident of seeing this strong interest in the product convert to accelerating sales over the coming months.

“Conversion of the Optim sales pipeline is Avacta Analytical’s foremost objective and this is being addressed by recent additions to the in-house commercial team and distributor agreements close to finalisation.”

Avacta said that is expects to launch its first diagnostic product Midas into the veterinary healthcare market in the near term.

The Midas system will be capable of delivering a wide menu of rapid diagnostic blood tests offering both quantitative and qualitative analysis to the veterinary and human healthcare markets.

Avacta said: “The funds raised will be used to support commercialisation of these new analytical and diagnostics products through improvements in infrastructure and manufacturing processes and through the enhancement of the company’s commercial teams.”