Avacta Group has raised £10 million through an oversubscribed placing and subscription, issuing 15.87 million new shares at 63p each, a discount of around 9.4% to the previous closing price.
Today’s placing follows another fundraise in October that raised £16 million, also at 63p.
The most recent £10 million fundraising was oversubscribed, with Zeus Capital acting as sole broker and bookrunner. Directors also participated, subscribing for just under 874,000 shares, representing roughly 3.6% of the company’s existing share capital.
The money will be used to fund Avacta’s R&D programmes through to early Q1 2027, with a particular focus on advancing AVA6103 (FAP-Exd), its second clinical programme using the proprietary pre|CISION® tumour-activated drug delivery platform.
Dosing on AVA6103, a peptide drug conjugate based on the potent topoisomerase I inhibitor exatecan, is expected to begin imminently.
The company said the cash runway is designed to take the company beyond the initial Phase 1a data readout for AVA6103, anticipated in late 2026, a milestone the board views as pivotal for commercial discussions.
Avacta is also pressing ahead with Phase 1b expansion cohorts for faridoxorubicin (AVA6000) across three cancer indications — salivary gland cancer, triple negative breast cancer, and soft tissue sarcoma, with additional data from both Phase 1a and 1b expected in the first half of this year.
“The Board’s decision to raise funds enables Avacta to continue to retain 100% ownership of our highly promising programs based on our proprietary pre|CISION®️ technology and provide us with a cash runway into early Q1 2027,” said Christina Coughlin, CEO of Avacta.
“We believe this decision to overwhelmingly be in the long-term interest of shareholders, such is the potential for our proprietary technology.
“The centers are now open for the Phase 1 trial of our second program AVA6103. This financing ensures an extended cash runway, as we move towards the preliminary results from this study in H2 2026, and other important development milestones expected later this year and early in 2027.”