Avacta Group PLC said on Friday its joint venture has found a Chinese collaborator to develop new biologic drugs.
The Cambridge, England-based drug developer and diagnostics company said its joint venture with Daewoong Pharmaceutical Co Ltd called AffyXell Therapeutics has signed a collaboration agreement with Biocytogen, a Chinese company that specialises in biological drugs, and the Korea Non-Clinical Technology Solution Center.
The parties will collaborate on new immune disease in vivo models, testing the toxicity of and conducting proof-of-concept for AffyXell’s drug candidates, using the developed disease model. Biocytogen’s gene-editing platform will aid the new models, with its ability to create mouse models that produce human antibodies.
AffyXell was founded by Avacta and Daewoong as a joint venture to develop novel mesenchymal stem cell therapies in January of 2020.
‘The quality of pre-clinical disease models and their ability to translate into humans is critical for reducing risk and timelines associated with drug development. This collaboration has the potential to significantly accelerate AffyXell’s programmes,’ said Chief Executive Officer Alastair Smith.
Shares in Avacta were up 4.1% to 92.68 pence each in London on Friday morning, having reached a high of 105.00p earlier in the day.
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