Arovella Therapeutics (ASX: ALA) has received part of its FY2024 R&D Tax Incentive refund of $3 million.
The company is also expecting to receive a further $0.3 million in the coming months in relation to eligible expenditure covered by an advanced overseas finding that was successfully obtained post lodgement of its income tax return that resulted in the $3 million refund.
CEO and Managing Director, Dr Michael Baker, said these funds further strengthen Arovella’s cash position as it progresses development if its lead asset, ALA-101, towards first-in-human clinical trials.
“The R&D Tax Incentive scheme provides valuable support for companies such as Arovella and we look forward to using these funds to advance our programs towards the clinic.”
The Australian Government's Research and Development Tax Incentive is a programme to encourage businesses to undertake research and development (R&D) activities and provides eligible companies with cash refunds for 43.5-48.5% of eligible expenditure on research and development activities.
Arovella is a biotechnology company focused on developing its invariant natural killer T (iNKT) cell therapy platform from Imperial College London to treat blood cancers and solid tumours. A
Its lead product is ALA-101. ALA-101 consists of CAR19-iNKT cells that have been modified to produce a Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) that targets CD19. CD19 is an antigen found on the surface of numerous cancer types. iNKT cells also contain an invariant T cell receptor (iTCR) that targets glycolipid bound CD1d, another antigen found on the surface of several cancer types.
ALA-101 is being developed as an allogeneic cell therapy, which means it can be given from a healthy donor to a patient. Arovella is also expanding into solid tumour treatment through its CLDN18.2-targeting technology licensed from Sparx Group. Arovella will also incorporate its IL-12-TM technology into its solid tumour programmes.