Avacta doses first patient in higher-dose oncology cohort

Life sciences company Avacta Group announced that it had dosed the first patient in the fifth cohort of the first-in-human phase one trial of its innovative oncology drug ‘AVA6000’ on Wednesday.

The AIM-traded firm said the development came after the Medical and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved an amended clinical trial protocol to allow for higher levels of dosing.

Its safety data monitoring committee (SDMC) recommended that the phase 1a dose escalation clinical trial continue to a fifth dose cohort at 250mg per square metre, after observing a favourable safety profile for AVA6000 generated in the study so far.

The escalation to that level of dosing would fall outside of the original clinical trial protocol, and thus the protocol required amendment and approval by the MHRA.

“We are very much encouraged by the positive safety and tolerability data emerging from the dose escalation phase 1a study of AVA6000,” said chief executive officer Dr Alastair Smith.

“Following the recommendation from the SDMC, and approval by the MHRA, we are pleased to commence dosing in the fifth patient cohort of this trial.

“The recent confirmation of release of active chemotherapy in the tumour tissue and the safety data being generated in the ALS-6000-101 study are providing detailed insights into the ‘preCISION’ platform which add significant value to the technology and confirm the tumour targeting potential of the platform.”

At 1312 BST, shares in Avacta Group were up 4.52% at 121.24p.

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.