OXFORD BIOMEDICA
Oxford Biomedica Announces Collaboration with
AstraZeneca and the Establishment of a Drug Discovery Unit
Second
agreement in the genomics field based on BioMedica's LentiVectorT
Technology Oxford,
UK - 14 February 2000: Oxford BioMedica plc announced today that
it has signed a collaboration agreement with the Loughborough based
AstraZeneca R&D Charnwood in the fields of genomics and target validation.
The joint programme will explore the use of BioMedica's proprietary
LentiVectorT gene delivery technology to deliver genes to primary
cells that are central to a number of disease processes, including
asthma.
This deal is
BioMedica's third collaboration that makes use of its core gene
therapy technologies for drug discovery programmes outside the field
of gene therapy. The other two collaborations are with Rhone-Poulenc
Rorer and make use of the Company's gene control technology in drug
screens and LentiVectorsT for target validation.
The interest
in BioMedica's technology for drug discovery is such that the Company
has established a new Unit of Drug Discovery under the directorship
of Dr Kyriacos Mitrophanous and Dr Miles Carroll, two of Oxford
BioMedica's senior scientists. The Unit is completely self-financing
and will develop technologies and approaches that arise out of the
Company's core technologies. There are immediate opportunities in
the fields of LentiVectorT gene transfer, hypoxia control and MacroGenT,
the Company's proprietary macrophage delivery technology.
Commenting
on the agreement with AstraZeneca Alan Kingsman, BioMedica's Chief
Executive said:
"We are pleased to be collaborating with AstraZeneca for the
first time. The deal adds further confirmation that our technology
is not only at the forefront of gene therapy, but that it can also
be applied to the new field of gene-driven drug discovery. It is
also recognition of our very strong position in this field, having
several layers of robust patent applications covering commercially
valuable lentiviral vector systems. We have good reason to believe
that these systems are not covered by any other company's existing
patents.
"Efficient,
safe and regulated gene delivery is required for both effective
gene therapy and for key aspects of the difficult task of unravelling
information generated by the various genomics and proteomics programmes.
Our gene transfer systems deliver these key features which are required
by the major pharmaceutical companies. We anticipate further commercial
opportunities arising from LentiVectorsT and other technologies
from our new drug discovery unit"
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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 and neurodegenerative disease. Oxford
BioMedica plc was floated on the UK Alternative Investment Market
of the London Stock Exchange in December 1996.
- AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged
in the research, development, manufacture and marketing of ethical
(prescription) pharmaceuticals and the supply of healthcare services.
It is one of the top five pharmaceutical companies in the world
with healthcare sales of $13 billion and leading positions in
sales of gastrointestinal, oncology, anaesthesia including pain
management, cardiovascular, central nervous system (CNS) and respiratory
products.
- Genomics
and proteomics
The exploitation of the knowledge of gene sequences and the pattern
of expression of proteins are called genomics and proteomics respectively.
These two areas generate a vast amount of data describing correlations
between the expression of genes and particular diseases. However,
although these approaches are extremely powerful, they only yield
correlations, not causative, mechanistic relationships between
gene expression and disease. As a result, the challenge facing
the industry is to establish, from a large number of correlations,
those genes with a causative relationship to disease which should
be the target for drug development. The process of identifying
genes linked to disease is known as target validation.
- Target
validation
This involves taking candidate genes and putting them into cells,
either in culture or in animal models, and establishing whether
the presence of that gene produces an effect that is linked to
disease. If it does, then that gene is validated as a target for
further drug development.
The process
of gene validation is costly and time consuming and the pharmaceutical
industry has invested heavily in genomics and proteomics programmes
with major collaborations in both fields. Many also have allocated
substantial in-house resources to these activities. As a result,
the industry is constantly looking for better ways of validating
targets, which is why the application of the lentiviral vector
system may make a considerable contribution.
-
Lentivirus
vector systems and the process of drug discovery
In the process of target validation, it is very important that
the vehicle that delivers the candidate gene, the vector, produces
no effect in the cell that might be confused with the effects
of the candidate gene. This is where the LentiVectorT technology
is so powerful.
Lentiviruses,
which form the basis of LentiVectorT technology, 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. This
is a particular feature of many cells that have been identified
by the pharmaceutical industry as important targets for drug
discovery and development.
In addition,
not only do LentiVectorsT deliver genes efficiently to many
cell types that are important in disease processes but they
generate no detectable adverse effects on the cell or tissue
that receives the candidate gene. Effects that are seen in such
experiments can be attributed, therefore, to the gene alone.
| For
further information please contact: |
|
Oxford BioMedica plc
Professor Alan
Kingsman, Chief Executive |
Tel:
+44 (0)1865 783 000 |
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Enquiries
David
Simonson / Melanie Toyne Sewell
Merlin Financial Communications |
Tel:
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| Scientific/Trade
Enquiries
Sue
Charles/ Sarah Pattinson,
HCC•De Facto Group |
Tel:
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