Aptamer Group PLC (AIM:APTA) shares climbed 8% to 1.3p after it struck a £0.5 million contract with a biotechnology company developing genetic medicines.
The AIM-listed company has been appointed to use its discovery platform to find novel Optimer binders to enable the specific targeting of genetic medicines to specific cell types.
Aptamer Group will receive up to £553,000 in development fees for discovering and developing the Optimer binders, with work expected to begin "shortly" and due to be completed within the current financial year.
Optimers are fully synthetic molecules that because of their small size and controlled development process can be useful as candidate molecules for drug delivery.
Aptamer chief technical officer Dr Arron Tolley said: "This project builds on the work we have been doing in drug delivery since being refunded and supports the need for new delivery modalities within the genetic medicines space."