Oxford BioMedica plc
Established in 1995, the Company specialises in the development and application of gene-based therapeutics and immunotherapeutics for the treatment of disease in the areas of Oncology, Viral Infection, and Neurobiology and in gene discovery. Oxford BioMedica plc was floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in December 1996.

Currently Oxford BioMedica has corporate collaborations with Aventis, AstraZeneca, IDM, Modex Therapeutics, Nycomed Amersham and Virbac. On 6 November 2000 BioMedica reported positive initial results from a Phase I/II clinical trial of its gene therapy MetXiaŽ in late-stage breast cancer (BC1). MetXiaŽ is also in a Phase I/II clinical trial for the treatment of ovarian cancer (OC1). A Phase I/II clinical trial of BioMedica's cancer vaccine TroVaxT in colorectal cancer is expected to commence shortly.

Lentivirus vector systems for gene transfer to the brain
In gene therapy, the aim is to deliver a gene and its necessary regulatory elements (the gene construct) to the target cell, using a vector to mediate the transfer across the cell membrane and, in some cases, into the nucleus. Vector systems based on lentiviruses offer many advantages and have great commercial potential. They have similar features to retroviruses in their ease of manipulation, predictable integration and reliable gene expression and regulation. They do not take any viral genes into the target cell.

The main advantage of lentiviruses over retroviruses is the ability to function in non-dividing cells or cells that are dividing slowly - a feature of many clinically important tissues including the central and peripheral nervous system. In contrast to some other gene delivery systems, BioMedica's retroviral and lentiviral vector systems produce no detectable adverse inflammatory effects. For therapies requiring delivery of genes to brain cells, this is an essential requirement.