Gene therapy boost (From Banbury Cake)

Gene therapy boost

3:31pm Wednesday 8th July 2009

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GENE therapy company Oxford Biomedica was boosted by a ruling by US drug regulators that it can continue to develop its cancer vaccine TroVax.

The company's shares rose following an announcement that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had completed a review, acknowledged that “confounding factors" may have contributed to the increased number of deaths in a trial of Trovax, the Trist study.

Last year the company axed 13 jobs at its Oxford Science Park headquarters following a fall in its share price after regulators said no more vaccine should be given to the 700-plus kidney cancer patients in the Trist trial.

Dr Stuart Naylor, Oxford BioMedica’s chief scientific officer, said: “We are encouraged that the results of the Trist study further support the anti-cancer activity of the immune response.

"Our exploratory analyses of this first placebo-controlled, randomised study of TroVax suggest that patients who are more likely to respond to TroVax and benefit from treatment, can be pre-selected.

"Our constructive dialogue with the FDA provides a clear path for further development of TroVax in multiple cancer settings.”

Chief executive John Dawson said: “The Trist study has yielded valuable insights into the potential for TroVax as a therapeutic cancer vaccine, despite not achieving its primary endpoint.

He added: "We have already received expressions of interest from several pharmaceutical companies that have previously reviewed the programme. We remain committed to the successful development and commercialisation of TroVax.”

In May, Oxford Biomedica announced a dealwith pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-aventis giving it enough cash to last until 2012.

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