OXFORD
BIOMEDICA PLC
Oxford Biomedica Signs Deal on Novel
Tumour Vaccine
Oxford,
UK, and Paris, France - 21 February 2000: Oxford BioMedica
announced today that it has signed a license agreement with
Virbac S.A. of France ("Virbac") to develop, manufacture and
market Oxford BioMedica's cancer vaccine technology for use
in pet or 'companion' animals, such as cats and dogs.
Under
the terms of the license agreement, Oxford BioMedica will
supply its tumour associated antigens that will be delivered
in a pox-virus system. In turn, Virbac will make upfront and
milestone payments, and staged equity investments in Oxford
BioMedica, and it will pay royalties on sales of products.
Virbac will also fund the pre-clinical data preparation, clinical
trials, and regulatory dossier preparation, and will support
research and development on the vaccine to be carried out
by Oxford BioMedica.
Cancer
is a major cause of death in pet cats and dogs, with an estimated
prevalence of 10 million cases worldwide. There is no equivalent
cancer vaccine available at present, and the adoption of this
vaccine may open up a substantial new market in veterinary
pharmaceuticals, potentially worth over $200 million in the
US and Europe. In addition, since companion animals are now
enjoying a longer life span, this market is predicted to grow
further.
Professor
Alan Kingsman, Oxford BioMedica's Chief Executive commented
"This deal represents the first of several that we are
negotiating with pharmaceutical companies worldwide on our
novel tumour-combating antigens. In particular, strong interest
is being shown in the human version of this vaccine. This
license allows Oxford BioMedica to share in revenue streams
outside of its core human therapeutic markets.
"Virbac is a long-established veterinary company with a
particular emphasis on vaccines for companion animals and
has considerable expertise in developing vaccines based on
recombinant technology. The company represents an ideal partner
for Oxford BioMedica for the veterinary aspects of its oncology
vaccine programme."
Eric
Marée, President of Virbac, commented
"Oxford BioMedica's therapeutic vaccine approach is a novel
solution to the treatment of cancer that is particularly applicable
to small animals. By developing this innovative cancer vaccine
in collaboration with Oxford BioMedica we could open up a
valuable new market in small animal vaccines".
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