OXFORD
BIOMEDICA
Oxford Biomedica Raises £8.5 Million and Establishes
a Gene Discovery Division
Oxford,
UK - 10 August 2000: Oxford BioMedica announces that it has
raised £8.5 million net of expenses. The net proceeds of the
fund raising will be used principally to develop a new Gene
Discovery Division which will be adapting BioMedica's core
gene therapy technology for use in the fields of Genomics,
Target Validation and Gene Identification. The new division
is an extension of the Drug Discovery Unit that was established
in February 2000.
Fund
raising
The fund raising was by way of an issue of 14.6 million New
Ordinary Shares at a price of 60p per share. The shares were
placed with number of major institutions, some of whom have
not invested previously in Oxford BioMedica.
Commenting
on the fund raising, Chief Executive Professor Alan Kingsman
said: "We have been able to move very quickly and cost-effectively
to establish a competitive new business division. This was
essential to take full advantage of the opportunities in the
exciting and rapidly developing field of genomics-based product
development".
The
Gene Discovery Division
An increasing amount of data about genes and their relationship
with disease is being generated by the genomics and proteomics
industry. In addition the completion of the Human Genome Project
is starting to provide a vast source of genetic data. The
key challenge that faces the pharmaceutical and biotechnology
industry now is to derive value from these data by producing
new products to treat major diseases.
A major
rate-limiting step in this path to products is to identify
genes that are directly and mechanistically involved in a
disease process as opposed to simply describing genes that
may have an undefined association with disease. BioMedica's
Gene Discovery Division meets this challenge head-on with
two unique approaches, LentiVector® gene transfer
technology for target validation and a new approach to gene
identification called Smartomics™.
LentiVector™
Technology - The LentiVector® technology
makes use of a heavily engineered virus, Equine Infectious
Anaemia Virus, to deliver genes to a wide range of cell types.
It was developed as part of the Company's gene therapy programmes.
The technology can also be used to identify, amongst the many
hundreds of genes emerging from genomics and proteomics programmes,
those few genes that are directly involved in disease mechanisms
and which are, therefore, the prime targets for pharmaceutical
product development. This is known as Target Validation. BioMedica
has already signed deals in this area with AstraZeneca and
Aventis and there are other deals in discussion.
Smartomics™
- Smartomics™ is a 'knowledge-based' system using BioMedica's
gene delivery systems to improve the output of genomic and
proteomic screens. The technology works by selectively amplifying
the activity of disease-related genes. This makes these important
genes easier to identify and it provides more information
on their function. The improved screening process allows the
rapid identification of a more select group of genes, of which
a much larger proportion are relevant to a particular disease.
This should provide a faster route to product development,
and products derived from the genes should be patented more
effectively. In short, the Directors of BioMedica believe
that Smartomics™ offers a powerful new route to extracting
value from the genomics field.
The initial
applications for Smartomics™ will be in the areas of
cardiovascular disease, cancer, neurodegenerative disease
and arthritis. The genes identified will be the subject of
new patent applications and are expected to build an intellectual
property position that will increase in value over the next
2-3 years. The patents are expected to form the focus for
licensing deals with pharmaceutical and biotech companies
in which there would be access payments, milestone payments
and royalties. In addition, BioMedica expects to gain revenue
from the sale of information derived from its Smartomics™
screens.
Dr. Paul
Durrands, commercial director of Oxford BioMedica plc, has
been appointed Chief Operating Officer of the Gene Discovery
Division. Dr. Durrands joined the Board of Oxford BioMedica
on 22 June 2000, having previously held senior positions in
a number of companies, most recently as Finance Director of
the joint venture between Yoplait and Dairy Crest.
Commenting
on the announcement, Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive of Oxford
BioMedica said:
"Oxford
BioMedica is at the forefront of several aspects of gene technology
- in the fields of gene therapy and gene-based immunotherapy.
We will now be using our core gene technology to discover
new genes that are functionally involved in a range of disease
processes. Our unique approaches will extract value from the
significant amounts of information being generated by the
Human Genome Project and Genomics in general.
"This
is an exciting development for Oxford BioMedica and we are
delighted with the response and support from institutional
investors in funding this new Division. We believe our approach
to target validation and gene discovery through SmartomicsTM
addresses important issues being faced by the Drug Discovery
market. We look forward to making considerable progress in
this area and generating substantial shareholder value as
a result." |
