Avacta opens first US clinical investigator sites

Life sciences company Avacta has opened its first two clinical investigator sites in the US for a Phase 1 clinical study on its AVA6000 candidate.

Avacta said on Thursday that the two sites, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York and Fred Hutch Cancer Center in Seattle, were both now open for patient enrolment to ALS-6000-101.

The AIM-listed group noted that this was the first-in-human trial of AVA6000, its lead pre|CISION drug candidate for the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma.

Chief development officer Neil Bell said: "This timely opening of these two key US sites, under the expert direction of Dr Tap and Professor Cranmer, is a major milestone in Avacta's entry strategy into the US with our promising AVA6000 pre|CISION lead programme.

"We share with our US colleagues a clear vision to transform treatment outcomes for patients, and we look forward to working together as we continue to build the clinical evidence base for the safety and tolerability of AVA6000, in addition to the significant tumour-targeting potential of the pre|CISION platform."

As of 1330 BST, Avacta shares had shot up 8.69% to 132.60p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com