Market

Despite available and effective cancer drugs, a large unmet need persists for new cancer treatments  that are both safe and efficacious.

Existing treatments often only act on one modality, for example chemotherapies damage the genes inside the nucleus of cells that are dividing, other treatments work to stimulate the immune system to destroy cancer cells (e.g. Keytruda®). AVX420 is inhibiting cPLA₂α, a key enzyme which causes release of arachidonic acid resulting in the activation of multiple inflammatory and proliferative processes, involved in several processes being upregulated in cancer biology, hence acting multifaceted.

Several effective cancer treatments also act on healthy cells resulting in severe side effects. cPLA₂α inhibitors including AVX420  are believed to have a more favorable safety profile based on preclinical and clinical studies.

Overall, there is a great need for new drugs with novel and effective ways of targeting cancers and with  an improved safety profile.

The financial opportunity in the cancer market is substantial. The total headline value of the biopharma licensing, collaborations and joint ventures for which financial details were disclosed was $213.5 billion, up from $198 billion in 2020, with cancer-focused deals accounting for 29% of the 1,968 deals signed in 2021. Financial terms were only disclosed for 130 of the 574 cancer deals announced, with a headline figure of $73.1 billion. Biopharma M&A activity was worth $118.4 billion in 2021, down 32% compared with 2020, and cancer-focused M&A’s in 2021 were valued at $19.7 billion.

The top ten licensing deals in oncology in 2021 with a projected deal value over $1 billion
with upfront payments in the range of 30 mUSD to 1 bUSD.