Avacta Shares Jump On Successful Completion of AVA6000 4th Dose Escalation

Avacta (LON: AVCT) shares jumped over 15% in early Tuesday trading after the company said it has successfully completed the fourth dose escalation in its AVA6000 Phase 1 clinical study.

AVA6000 continues to show a “very favourable” safety profile, the company said in its statement, adding that it also continues to be well tolerated, with a reduction in the incidence and severity of the typical toxicities associated with the standard doxorubicin chemotherapy administration.

They add that at the highest dosing levels, which is equivalent to over double the standard dose of doxorubicin, the typical drug-related cardiotoxicity was not observed.

So far, 19 patients have been administered AVA6000 to date.

Following the favourable safety profile of AVA6000, the Safety Data Monitoring Committee (SDMC) has recommended a continuation of higher dose cohorts to identify a maximum tolerated dose necessary to provide the dosing levels in a phase 1b trial and future studies.

The company expects to complete the additional cohorts during the first half of 2023.

“We're delighted with the very positive data emerging from the dose escalation study of our lead pre|CISIONTM tumour targeted therapy AVA6000,” said Dr Alastair Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Avacta Group plc. “The very significant reduction in the usual toxicities, plus the observed release of doxorubicin at significant levels in the tumour tissue, show that the pre|CISIONTM platform has the potential to significantly improve the safety and tolerability of chemotherapies, and other drugs, by targeting their release to the tumour.”

He added that the company is now in a position to move beyond the fourth cohort in the dose escalation study to higher doses than initially anticipated, which is an “unexpected and very positive development.”