Modern Slavery
Table of contents
OXB is opposed to slavery and human trafficking and believes that the Modern Slavery Act 2015 has made a significant step in encouraging companies to identify and tackle the risks of modern slavery and human trafficking across the business operations and in supply chains.
This statement has been prepared in response to Section 54 of the Modern Slavery Act 2015 and outlines OXB’s policies and efforts to mitigate the risks of modern slavery throughout our business and supply chain. This statement covers OXB’s financial year from 01 January 2025 to 31 December 2025 and has been approved by the Board of Oxford Biomedica plc and adopted by each of its relevant subsidiaries, including Oxford Biomedica (UK) Limited, Oxford Biomedica (US) LLC and Oxford Biomedica (France) SAS.
1. About our business and supply chain
OXB (LSE: OXB) is a global quality and innovation-led contract development and manufacturing organisation (CDMO) in cell and gene therapy. Our mission is to enable our clients to deliver life-changing therapies to patients around the world.
One of the pioneers in cell and gene therapy, we have more than 30 years of experience in viral vectors; the driving force behind the majority of cell and gene therapies. We collaborate with some of the world's most innovative pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, providing viral vector development and manufacturing expertise in lentivirus, adeno-associated virus (AAV), adenoviral vectors and other viral vector types. Our world-class capabilities span from early-stage development to commercialisation. These capabilities are supported by robust quality-assurance systems, analytical methods and a depth of regulatory expertise.
We offer a vast number of unique technologies for viral vector manufacturing, including a 4th generation lentiviral vector system (the Tetravecta™ system), a dual plasmid system for AAV production, suspension and perfusion process using process enhancers and stable producer and packaging cell lines.
OXB, a FTSE250 and a FTSE4Good constituent, is headquartered in Oxford, UK. We have bioprocessing and manufacturing facilities across Oxfordshire, UK, Lyon and Strasbourg, France, Boston, MA, and Durham, NC, US. During the relevant period, OXB employed more than 950 people.
We operate responsibly at the forefront of our business, and are committed to sound corporate governance principles, practices and policies. These policies are described in our Environmental, Society and Governance report contained in our Annual Report. For further information about our business and governance policies, please visit: www.oxb.com
Our supply chain includes providers of client services as well as goods and services to the OXB Group.
2. Managing modern slavery risks
At OXB, we recognise our responsibility to identify, mitigate and address potential and actual human rights impacts that are directly linked to our business activities. While the risk of modern slavery and human trafficking is relatively low in the geographical locations in which the OXB Group operates, we recognise that this responsibility extends to our business relationships.
OXB has taken steps to mitigate the risks associated with modern slavery in our business and supply chain. The activities conducted in 2025 and are ongoing, include:
- Recruitment: We conduct checks on all new employees that join the business to ensure that they have eligibility to work in the jurisdiction of employment, so as to mitigate the risk of human trafficking or that such individuals are being forced to work against their will. When looking to hire employees, if the recruitment is not carried out by our in-house team, we only work with reputable external recruitment partners.
- Employee training: We expect all our employees and officers and those acting on OXB’s behalf (OXB Personnel) to comply with our values which create duties to conduct business with respect and responsibility, not only for each other, but also all those with whom we interact. This is further demonstrated through OXB’s Dignity at Work Policy which all OXB Personnel are required to comply with. OXB employees also receive training on: whistleblowing, responsible purchasing, our contract process, underpinning responsible supply chain management (which includes human rights), management of responsible interactions with counterparties as well as being trained and required to adhere to internal expectations aligned with our ethical values and behaviours.
- Verification and risk assessment: as part of the procurement solicitation process and our due diligence of suppliers, all suppliers are asked to comply with our Supplier Code of Conduct or provide their own equivalent code which demonstrates compliance with Modern Slavery legislation. These standards include expectations that suppliers shall not use child labour or forced labour, that they shall comply with legal minimum wage requirements, prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace and provide fair working conditions.
- Supplier on-boarding: as a condition of on-boarding, all counterparties are asked to confirm that they comply with the laws regarding slavery and human trafficking of the country or countries in which they do business. This includes where required, information review of a supplier’s policies, procedures and training activity and any regular risk assessments that the supplier may be undertaking. Such expectations are anchored in our Supplier Code of Conduct which details our overall approach to ethical standards and responsible supply chain management showing respect for sustainable and resilient business practices.
3. Improving in the year ahead
In 2026, we plan to:
- Enhance our due diligence processes for all major suppliers globally.
- Continue to educate employees on the OXB values, Dignity at Work Policy and Whistleblowing Policy.
- Continue to ensure robustness in our employee recruitment and onboarding processes, ensuring right to work checks are performed promptly, and continuing to review the recruitment partners we work with.
- Report metrics on OXB employees’ completion of the mandatory corporate training for compliance purposes.
We will report on progress on the above matters in our next statement.
This statement has been reviewed and endorsed by Oxford Biomedica plc’s Board of directors on 16 March 2026.