New Development in Cancer Therapy

Oxford Biomedica PLC
7 January 2000


For further information, please contact:
Oxford BioMedica plc
Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive             Tel: [phone]
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Merlin Financial Communications                      Tel: [phone]
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OXFORD BIOMEDICA ANNOUNCES NEW DEVELOPMENT IN CANCER THERAPY

Oxford, England - 7 January 2000. Oxford BioMedica plc (AIM-OXB) today 
reported new preclinical results from its proprietary LentiVector(tm) 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.'


Notes to Editors

1. Oxford BioMedica plc
Established in 1995, the Company specialises in the development and application
of gene-based therapeutics using advanced 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.

2. 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

3. 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)

4. 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.
          
5.     Worldwide web
This release is also available on the Worldwide Web at
http://www.oxfordbiomedica.co.uk