£2.2M award will be used to fund a Phase I/II clinical trial of Oxford Biomedica-102, an enhanced version of ProSavin®; a gene therapy for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease
Oxford, UK – 30 April 2014: Oxford BioMedica plc (“Oxford BioMedica” or “the Company”) (LSE: Oxford Biomedica), the leading gene-based biopharmaceutical company, today announces it has been awarded a £2.2 million grant by the UK’s innovation agency, the Technology Strategy Board under the Biomedical Catalyst funding programme. This award will help fund a Phase I/II clinical trial of Oxford Biomedica-102 in Parkinson’s disease patients.
Parkinson’s disease is a progressive degenerative condition which is common within the aging population and caused by the degeneration of dopamine-producing nerve cells in the brain. Using Oxford BioMedica’s proprietary LentiVector® gene delivery technology, Oxford Biomedica-102 delivers the genes for three enzymes which are critical for the biosynthesis of dopamine.
Oxford Biomedica-102 is a new, more potent, form of ProSavin® which completed a Phase I/II clinical trial in 2012, the results of which were published in January 2014 in The Lancet. ProSavin® demonstrated a favourable safety profile and a statistically significant improvement in motor function at six and 12 months post-treatment relative to baseline. Oxford Biomedica-102 has been developed to increase the likelihood of success in later stages of development and future commercialisation. Pre-clinical efficacy studies carried out in 2013 indicate that Oxford Biomedica-102 is at least five times more potent than ProSavin®.
The funding award is subject to due diligence and final confirmation by the Technology Strategy Board. Further details will be disclosed in due course.
John Dawson, Chief Executive Officer of Oxford BioMedica, commented: “The Technology Strategy Board’s Biomedical Catalyst funding programme is targeted at innovative projects in Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) which demonstrate the potential to provide a positive healthcare and economic impact. We are delighted to have been selected by the Technology Strategy Board again, following on from the grant we were awarded last year for EncorStat® under the “Supporting regenerative medicines and cell therapies” competition.
“This substantial second award will support our plans to further develop Oxford Biomedica-102 through the next stage of the clinical process and to its next value inflection point. Oxford BioMedica is a world leader in gene therapy solutions and, the delivery through our LentiVector® platform, is at the cutting edge of UK medical innovation.”
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