2000, a year of achievement for Oxford BioMedica

Reporting results for the year ended December 31, 2000, with turnover ofL700,000 ($1.0 million) compared with L400,000 the previous year, Oxford BioMedica chairman Peter Johnson said: "this has been another year of substantial achievements for the company." However, despite revenues from three commercial alliances, the firm's net loss increased to L5 million from L4.2 million. R&D spending for the year was L5 million, compared with L3.8 million in 1999.

Clinical progress included positive Phase I results from MetXia (a platform gene technology used to increase tumor cell death via local activation of the prodrug cyclophosphamide), with good safety and gene transfer data in the BC1 breast cancer trial. Additionally, MetXia is in a Phase I/II trial in ovarian cancer. Also, last month, the firm's anticancer vaccine TroVax entered Phase I/II clinical trials in colorectal cancer.

Oxford BioMedica points out that it now has 10 commercial alliances with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies in place, including deals with AstraZeneca, Aventis, Nycomed Amersham, Modex and Virbac, as well as, most recently, with Wyeth-Ayerst for a novel tumor-associated antigen (OBAI) which has a potential value of $24 million (Marketletter January 29).