Avacta Therapeutics has launched a proposed £12.5m equity fundraising to extend its cash runway and continue development of its targeted oncology programmes.
The AIM-listed company is seeking minimum gross proceeds of approximately £12.5m through an accelerated placing and subscription at 68p for each new ordinary share.
The issue price represents a discount of approximately 5.6% to the 72p closing mid-market price on 29 September, the final trading day before Avacta entered AIM’s new Capital Access Window.
Trading in the company’s shares has been temporarily paused under that mechanism since 30 September. The Capital Access Window is designed to give companies a period of price stability while a fundraising is carried out and to make it easier to reach a broader range of investors.
Avacta entered the process after reporting clinical proof of mechanism for AVA6103, the first clinical programme using its next-generation controlled-release pre|CISION approach. Preliminary Phase 1 data showed that the drug-release mechanism was operating in patients in line with preclinical modelling.
The company had previously said its existing cash would fund operations into early Q1 2027. If completed at the proposed level, the new fundraising is intended to extend that runway into the second quarter of next year and strengthen Avacta’s position during discussions with potential partners.
Approximately £2.5m of the net proceeds is earmarked for the company’s next quarterly convertible bond repayment, due in cash on 20 October. The remainder is intended to provide working capital and support development of the pre|CISION pipeline.
That includes continued work on AVA6103, the ongoing faridoxorubicin programme known as AVA6000, and development of AVA6207, Avacta’s next-generation dual-payload asset.
The company expects initial efficacy data from the FOCUS-01 study of AVA6103 during the first half of 2027. AVA6207 remains at an earlier stage, with work continuing towards selection and development of the dual-payload programme before clinical testing.
Clinical-stage biotechnology companies regularly face a financing gap between promising early data and the later milestones required for licensing, partnership or regulatory progress. Development costs continue through that period even when a programme has begun to demonstrate its intended biological mechanism.
Avacta’s fundraising is therefore closely connected to its negotiating position as well as its laboratory and clinical expenditure. Extending the runway into Q2 2027 would allow the company to reach additional development milestones without the same immediate pressure to conclude a partnership simply to secure liquidity.
The transaction would still dilute existing shareholders, while £2.5m of the new capital is required for debt repayment rather than development. The announced £12.5m is also a proposed minimum gross amount rather than completed funding, with final proceeds dependent on the outcome of the bookbuild and subscription.
Avacta had already raised approximately £19m through equity transactions earlier in 2026. The proposed raise adds another financing step as management seeks to progress multiple oncology programmes and demonstrate that pre|CISION can produce repeatable clinical results across more than one drug candidate.
Once the Capital Access Window closes, attention will return to the completed size of the fundraising and the clinical milestones ahead. The longer-term financing position will depend not only on trial progress but also on whether partnership discussions can bring external capital into the platform before another equity raise becomes necessary.
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