BioMedica Inc, located in San Diego, California, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Oxford BioMedica plc (LSE: OXB), a UK based biotechnology company specializing in the development of novel gene-based therapeutics for the treatment of cancer, neurodegenerative diseases and other disorders with major unmet clinical needs.

BioMedica Inc is focused primarily on business development activities in North America and Asia and on management of the Company’s intellectual property.

Oxford BioMedica’s development pipeline includes two novel anti-cancer products, TroVax^® and MetXia^®, in clinical trials and gene therapy treatments in advanced preclinical studies for retinopathy, RetinoStat^®, and for Parkinson’s disease, ProSavin^®.

The LentiVector^® gene transfer system used in ProSavin^® and RetinoStat^® is based on a highly engineered Equine Infectious Anaemia Virus (EIAV). The LentiVector^® system contains only the few viral components that are required for efficient gene delivery. The company considers that the use of vector systems based on a specific lentivirus (EIAV) that does not naturally infect humans and, hence, is non-pathogenic, will provide significant advantages for preclinical and clinical development of products.

Lentiviruses have a longer duration (many months) of gene expression in vivo than other viral vectors such as adenoviruses, making the LentiVector technology an ideal gene delivery system for CNS and neuro-degenerative diseases.

Besides RetinoStat^® and ProSavin^®, the Company is developing a number of other drug candidates using the LentiVector^® system, including products for motor neuron disease, MoNuDin^®, and spinal cord injury, Innurex^®. The lentiviral gene delivery technology can also be used for target validation in the CNS and for the creation of non-transgenic disease models.

All of these programs are underpinned by a broad research pipeline, a technology platform incorporating several proprietary gene delivery systems and over 70 patent families.

For detailed information about Oxford BioMedica, clinical trials and technology, see the Oxford BioMedica website.