Oxford Biomedica Regulatory News (OXB)

6 Jul 2007 07:00

Oxford Biomedica PLC06 July 2007 For Immediate Release 6 JULY 2007 OXFORD BIOMEDICA SECURES RIGHTS TO ENDOSTATIN AND ANGIOSTATIN GENES FOR CANCER FROM CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL BOSTON Oxford, UK: 6 July 2007: Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB), a leading gene therapycompany, announced today that it has signed a license agreement with Children'sHospital Boston to extend the Company's existing rights for the anti-angiogenicgenes, endostatin and angiostatin, for the treatment of cancer using genetherapy. Angiogenesis, which is the formation of new blood vessels, is acritical mechanism for tumour progression. It has been clinically proven thattumour growth can be suppressed by using anti-angiogenic approaches to inhibittumour angiogenesis. Endostatin and angiostatin are endogenous anti-angiogenicproteins discovered in the laboratory of Dr. Judah Folkman, director of theVascular Biology Program at Children's Hospital Boston. Oxford BioMedica previously licensed the endostatin and angiostatin genes forits RetinoStat(R) product candidate for the treatment of wet age-related maculardegeneration (wet AMD) and other ocular diseases associated with aberrant bloodvessel growth. The RetinoStat programme is expected to enter clinicaldevelopment in 2008 for wet AMD. Under the terms of the new license agreementwith Children's Hospital Boston, Oxford BioMedica will pay an upfront payment,milestone payments and royalties on sales. Further details were not disclosed. In a separate agreement, also announced today, Children's Hospital, Boston hasagreed to subscribe for a total of 243,306 ordinary shares of 1p each at £0.4075per share. Application will be made to the United Kingdom Listing Authority('UKLA') for the newly issued ordinary shares in Oxford BioMedica to be admittedto the Official List of the UKLA and to the London Stock Exchange plc foradmission to trading on its market for listed securities. The shares areexpected to commence trading on 12 July 2007. -Ends- For further information, please contact:Oxford BioMedica plc: Tel: +44 (0)1865 783 000 Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief ExecutiveCity/Financial Enquiries: Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000 Lisa Baderoon/ Mark Court/ Mary-Jane Johnson BuchananCommunicationsScientific/Trade Press Enquiries: Tel: +44 (0)20 7268 3002 Gemma Price/ Holly Griffiths/ Katja StoutNorthbank Communications Notes to editors 1. Oxford BioMedica Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB) is a biopharmaceutical company specialising in thedevelopment and commercialisation of novel therapeutic vaccines and gene-basedtherapies with a focus on oncology and neurotherapy. The Company was establishedin 1995 as a spin-out from Oxford University, and is listed on the London StockExchange. The Company has a platform of gene delivery technologies, which are based onhighly engineered viral systems. Oxford BioMedica also has in-house clinical,regulatory and manufacturing know-how. In oncology, the lead product candidateis TroVax(R), an immunotherapy for multiple solid cancers, which is licensed tosanofi-aventis for global development and commercialisation. A Phase III trialof TroVax in renal cancer is ongoing and sanofi-aventis is implementing adevelopment plan for colorectal cancer. Oxford BioMedica's oncology pipelineincludes a specific immunotherapy candidate, Hi-8(R) MEL, for melanoma, whichhas completed two clinical trials. In neurotherapy, the Company's lead product,ProSavin(R), is expected to enter clinical development for Parkinson's diseasein 2007. The neurotherapy pipeline also includes preclinical gene-basedtherapeutics for vision loss, motor neuron disease and nerve repair. The Company is underpinned by over 80 patent families, which represent one ofthe broadest patent estates in the field. The Company has a staff ofapproximately 75 split between its main facilities in Oxford and its whollyowned subsidiary, BioMedica Inc, in San Diego, California. Corporate partnersinclude sanofi-aventis for TroVax and Wyeth for a targeted antibody therapy. TheCompany also has collaborations with Intervet, Sigma-Aldrich, MolMed andVirxsys. Technology licensees include Merck & Co, Biogen Idec, GlaxoSmithKlineand Pfizer. Further information is available at www.oxfordbiomedica.co.uk 2. Children's Hospital Boston Children's Hospital Boston is home to the world's largest research enterprisebased at a paediatric medical centre, where its discoveries have benefited bothchildren and adults since 1869. More than 500 scientists, including eightmembers of the National Academy of Sciences, 11 members of the Institute ofMedicine and 10 members of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute compriseChildren's research community. Founded as a 20-bed hospital for children,Children's Hospital Boston today is a 347-bed comprehensive centre forpaediatric and adolescent health care grounded in the values of excellence inpatient care and sensitivity to the complex needs and diversity of children andfamilies. Children's also is the primary paediatric teaching affiliate ofHarvard Medical School. For more information about the hospital and its research visit:www.childrenshospital.org/newsroom This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock Exchange