Avacta shares surge on progress with Covid test

Avacta Group said on Wednesday that, in four weeks and “well ahead” of schedule, it had successfully generated multiple ‘Affimer’ reagents that bound the SARS-COV-2 viral antigen as part of the collaboration with Cytiva - formerly GE Healthcare Life Sciences - to develop an Affimer-based rapid test for the Covid-19 coronavirus infection.

The AIM-traded firm said the process of generating new Affimer reagents to detect the SARS-COV-2 viral antigen was started in mid-March, shortly before the company announced its collaboration with Cytiva.

It said multiple highly specific Affimer binders had now been generated, that bind to the spike proteins of the SARS-COV-2 virus and did not cross-react with other “very closely related” viruses, such as SARS and MERS.

Those Affimer reagents would be characterised by Avacta, with the aim of developing a laboratory test for the SARS-COV-2 virus antigen within the next few weeks.

It said the Affimer binders would also be transferred to Cytiva shortly for implementation in a point-of-care test strip, similar in appearance to a pregnancy test, giving a visual read-out in minutes using a sample such as saliva.

Avacta said it owned the intellectual property relating to the SARS-COV-2 Affimer reagents, and retained all commercial rights.

It was in active discussions with other global diagnostic companies to develop Affimer-based Covid-19 antigen tests, to increase high-throughput testing capacity on a worldwide scale.

“The speed with which highly specific Affimer reagents can be generated is just one of the many significant advantages of the technology,” said chief executive officer Dr Alastair Smith.

“I would like to publicly thank Avacta colleagues who have worked long hours and weekends to make astounding progress and generate Affimer reagents against a novel virus in only four weeks and well ahead of schedule.

“The need for rapid antigen tests to diagnose Covid-19 infection that can be mass produced for rapid, professional screening of large populations, and for self-testing by consumers themselves, is crucial to limiting and tracking the spread of this disease.”

Avacta said antigen testing would also be critical to lockdown exit strategies around the world in order to get healthy, non-contagious people back to work to reboot economies, adding there would be an ongoing need for several years for antigen testing as the disease recurred.

“We have made an excellent start to our collaboration with Cytiva and we expect to shortly be able to provide Affimer reagents to Cytiva to implement on their rapid test strip technology.

“I very much look forward to updating the market on progress with Cytiva and on other commercial partnerships in relation to coronavirus testing that we are pursuing.”

At 1448 BST, shares in Avacta Group were up 25.45% at 69p.