Oxford BioMedica Announces New Developments
in Cancer Therapy
Oxford,
England - 7 January 2000. Oxford BioMedica plc (AIM-OXB) today
reported new preclinical results from its proprietary LentiVectorT
programme. At an international conference entitled 'Gene Therapy:
The Next Millennium' held in Keystone, Colorado, Professor Susan
Kingsman, the Company's R & D director described results which demonstrate
that BioMedica's unique EIAV-based vectors show enhanced gene delivery
to tumours in vivo. Until now it was thought that these vectors
were of primary use for non-dividing cells such as neurons and muscle
cells. Now it is clear that they will also be useful in applications
such as cancer where cells are dividing slowly.
Commenting on
the results Professor Kingsman said:
"This is the first time that lentiviral vectors have been shown
to be useful for cancer therapy. The data generated by BioMedica's
team mean that we will be using these vectors in a range of new
products including products for cancer. Prostate cancer is a disease
that may be particularly suited to this technology.
"These non-HIV
lentiviral vectors are generating a lot of commercial interest and
we expect several deals based on this technology in the future.
Not only can they be used very effectively for gene therapy but
also they are potent tools for drug discovery. They are versatile,
simple to use and they have none of the safety problems associated
with HIV-based vectors."
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Notes
to Editors
- Oxford
BioMedica plc
Established in 1995, the Company specialises in the development
and application of gene-based therapeutics using advance gene
delivery technologies for the treatment of disease in the areas
of Oncology, Viral Infection, Neurobiology and Genetic Deficiency.
Oxford BioMedica plc was floated on the UK Alternative Investment
Market of the London Stock Exchange in December 1996.
- Lentivirus
vector systems
In gene therapy, the aim is to deliver a gene and its necessary
regulatory elements (the gene construct) to the cell surface,
using a vector to mediate the transfer across the cell membrane
and, in some cases, into the nucleus. A new and potentially very
powerful vector system is based on lentiviruses, which have similar
features to retroviruses in the ease of manipulation, predictable
integration and reliable gene expression and regulation. However,
their main advantage over retroviruses is the ability to function
in non-dividing cells or cells that are dividing slowly - a feature
of many clinically important tissues.
- Types
of lentiviruses
Lentivirus vectors are constructed from two sources:
- primate
viruses e.g. human or simian immunodeficiency virus (HIV or
SIV)
- non-primate
viruses e.g. feline and bovine immunodeficiency viruses (FIV
and BIV), and one of the most simple, equine infective anaemia
virus (EIAV)
- Move away
from HIV-based vectors
Most lentiviral vector development has focused on the HIV-1-derived
system as HIV is the most thoroughly characterised of the lentiviruses.
However concerns over the use of HIV-based vectors for diseases
other than HIV infection are leading to the use of non-primate
viruses.
| For
further information please contact: |
|
Oxford BioMedica plc
Professor Alan
Kingsman, Chief Executive |
Tel:
+44 (0)1865 783000 |
| City/Financial
Enquiries
David
Simonson / Melanie Toyne Sewell
Merlin Financial Communications |
Tel:
+44 (0)171 606 1244 |
| Scientific/Trade
Enquiries
Sue
Charles/ Sarah Pattinson,
HCC•De Facto Group |
Tel:
+44 (0)171 496 3300 |
|
