Avacta Group surges on Moderna deal

Shares in Avacta Group surged over 25% on Monday, after the proprietary diagnostic tools provider said it had reached a deal with biotech group Moderna Therapeutics.

The London-listed company said its Life Sciences division had entered a collaboration, licensing and option agreement with US-based Moderna, which will make an up-front payment of $500,000 (£319,000) to gain exclusive access to Avacta’s Affimer technology.

The US group will also make a number of payments to Avacta for research services related to pre-clinical development, the British group said in a short statement on Monday, adding that the toal value of the deal could reach “several tens of millions of dollars”.

"The collaboration with Moderna is an important validation of the Affimer technology, highlighting the potential for Affimers to become a real alternative to antibodies,” said group chief executive Alastair Smith.

Avacta shares were up 23.98% to 1.06p at 15:41 on Monday.