TroVax into Clinical Trials

Oxford Biomedica PLC
2 January 2001


For further information, please contact:       

Oxford BioMedica plc       
Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive       Tel: [phone]
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Merlin Financial Communications                Tel: [phone]
Scientific/Trade Press Enquiries:
Chris Gardner, HCC.De Facto Group              Tel: [phone]

OXFORD BIOMEDICA COMMENCES CLINICAL TRIAL OF TROVAX(TM)

Oxford, UK - 2 January 2001: Oxford BioMedica ('BioMedica') announced today
that the Medicines Control Agency (the 'MCA'), the division of the National
Health Service which regulates the safety, quality and efficacy of all
medicines in the UK market, has approved BioMedica's cancer vaccine,
TroVax(TM) for a Phase I/II clinical trial in patients with colorectal cancer.


TroVax(TM) is a gene-based therapeutic vaccine that is designed to stimulate
the patient's immune system to mount a powerful anti-cancer response. The
immune system plays a key role in fighting infections and disease. However
with cancer, the patient's immune system often fails to react to the existence
of a tumour and as a result an immune response is not triggered. TroVax(TM) is
designed to stimulate a patient's immune system to recognise and destroy
cancer cells in this situation. 

The product is based on a gene that encodes a protein that exists only on the
surface of tumour cells and not on normal cells - such proteins are known as
Tumour Associated Antigens (TAAs). When this gene is expressed by Oxford
BioMedica's highly engineered virus-based delivery system, it induces a potent
anti-tumour response. This means that cells and antibodies of the immune
system seek out tumour cells carrying the TAA and destroy them. In preclinical
model systems the results have been very striking, with TroVax(TM) breaking
immune tolerance to tumours and protecting against further tumour growth.
TroVax(TM) will be trialled on patients with late stage colorectal cancer, at
the Christie Hospital, Manchester, one of the UK's leading cancer centres.

BioMedica is already in Phase I/II clinical trials with MetXia(R), its first
anti-cancer gene therapy product. During 2000, the Company also completed two
collaborative agreements based on TroVax(TM) and its related technology. In
the first collaboration, a veterinary version of TroVax(TM) was licensed to
the major European veterinary company, Virbac SA for development to treat
cancer in 'companion' animals e.g. dogs. The second agreement was with Nycomed
Amersham to develop a tumour imaging agent based on a proprietary antibody to
the TAA targeted by TroVax(TM).

Commenting on the announcement, Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive of
Oxford BioMedica, said:

'This is a very significant development. Already TroVax(TM) and its related
technology have attracted substantial commercial interest and are the subject
of two important collaborations. While we recognise that our successes to date
have been in model systems for cancer, the strength of our preclinical results
together with the potentially broad applicability of TroVax(TM) to treat a
wide range of cancers, make this a leading product in BioMedica's portfolio,
either for use on its own as a cancer vaccine or in conjunction with other
treatments.'


 Notes to Editors

1. 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, Neurobiology and Viral
Infection 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, Valentis and Virbac.
BioMedica's first clinical product, MetXia(R) is in Phase I/II clinical trials
for late-stage breast cancer (BC1) and ovarian cancer (OC1). TroVax(TM) is the
Company's second product in clinical trials.

2. World Wide Web
This release is also available on the World Wide Web at
http://www.oxfordbiomedica.co.uk