There’s currently an enormous amount of pioneering R&D work being conducted behind the scenes by cancer therapeutics and medical testing firm Avacta (AVCT). And that has meant continued positive newsflow from its AVA6000 therapeutic treatment and its precision diagnostics platforms.

But what many investors sometimes forget is that there are also a number of other very valuable third party royalty and drug opportunities that Avacta is progressing with large overseas partners.

Today one of these JV relationships with Daewoong Pharmaceutical, announced that it had just met another major milestone in respect of developing next-generation cell therapies, in turn triggering a second payment to Avacta that will further increase its stake in AffyXell Therapeutics from the current 19%. The exact extent of the uplift will be determined once a formal valuation of AffyXell has been conducted.

Here, Avacta has successfully created and characterised Affimer proteins against a second target of interest for AffyXell, and has filed a patent application for the associated intellectual property.

CEO Alastair Smith, commented: "We are delighted that such rapid progress has been made with the second target in our joint venture in South Korea. There is great potential for AffyXell's novel, engineered mesenchymal stem cell platform incorporating Avacta's Affimer technology to deliver significant improvements to the standard of care for patients with serious diseases. We continue to work closely with our colleagues at AffyXell and Daewoong to advance this cutting edge therapeutic platform."

Research house Trinity Delta has a risk adjusted price target of 228p on Avacta's shares.

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