Avacta Group - New JV gives further validation to Affimers

Avacta has announced a joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceuticals to develop mesenchymal stem cell (MSC) therapies incorporating Affimers. The joint venture (JV), will be based in South Korea and entirely funded by Daewoong with Avacta providing no financial investment. Avacta will develop Affimers (and be reimbursed by Daewoong for all research and development costs) for several undisclosed targets in inflammatory and autoimmune disorders. Avacta will have a 45% shareholding in the new company, will not contribute financially to the JV, and will retain the rights to any Affimers developed for the JV outside of their use in engineered cell therapies. We do not currently include the JV in our valuation due to its early nature; however, we view the deal positively and will reassess as work progresses. We retain our valuation of Avacta at £47m.