Board changes

Oxford Biomedica PLC
15 April 2008




For Immediate Release                                              15 APRIL 2008



                     OXFORD BIOMEDICA ANNOUNCES BOARD CHANGES

  - New Appointments Aligned with Strategy for Growth and Commercialisation -


Oxford, UK - 15 April 2008: Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB), a leading gene therapy
company, today announces changes to the composition of its Board of Directors.
These changes reflect the Company's stage of growth and are aligned with its
strategic focus on clinical development and commercialisation of its lead drug
candidates.

Dr Peter Johnson, aged 72, will retire as Non-Executive Chairman. Professor Alan
Kingsman will be appointed as Chairman and will be succeeded as Chief Executive
Officer by Dr Mike McDonald, currently Chief Medical Officer. Professor Susan
Kingsman will retire as Chief Scientific Officer and Executive Director. She
will be succeeded by Dr Stuart Naylor, currently Senior Vice President, Research
& Development, who will be appointed to the Board. Susan Kingsman will continue
to serve the Company on an exclusive basis as Senior Scientific Consultant. Nick
Rodgers, the Company's Senior Independent Director, will assume the role of
Deputy Chairman.

These Board changes will become effective on 1 July 2008. Oxford BioMedica is
committed to good corporate governance, including appropriate independent
director representation on the Board. The Board was recently further
strengthened by the appointment of Dr Alex Lewis as Non-Executive Director and
the Company is seeking to make another Non-Executive appointment.

Peter Johnson has been Chairman of Oxford BioMedica since 2001 and, on retiring,
will have been a member of the Board for nine years. Alan Kingsman co-founded
Oxford BioMedica and is an inventor on many of the Company's major patents. He
has led the Company as Chief Executive Officer since its inception in 1995. In
assuming the position of Chairman, he will continue to contribute to the
Company's strategic development, particularly in the areas of new product
innovation and intellectual property.

Mike McDonald brings over 20 years of experience in clinical drug development
and regulatory leadership. He joined Oxford BioMedica in 2005 from Seattle
Genetics, a US-based biotechnology company, where he was Chief Medical Officer
and directed the clinical development of their monoclonal antibody products.
Previously, Mike spent nine years with Eli Lilly where he led the European
Medical, Regulatory, Pharmacovigilance and Health Economics functions before
taking on the role of Worldwide Vice President, Clinical Research and Medical
Affairs based in the USA. Before that he was at SmithKline Beecham for seven
years where he was involved in worldwide clinical development and regulatory
management and he was also a member of the Pharmaceutical Development Strategy
Committee. Through these roles Mike has been instrumental in the successful
development and registration of numerous 'blockbuster' products, particularly in
the fields of neuroscience and oncology. These include Zyprexa(R) for
schizophrenia (peaks sales >US$4 billion), Paxil(R) for depression (peak sales >
US$3 billion), Evista(R) for osteoporosis (peak sales >US$1 billion), Gemzar(R)
for pancreatic cancer (peak sales >US$1 billion), Humalog(R) for diabetes (peak
sales >US$1 billion) and Kytril(R) for emesis (peak sales >US$0.5 billion). Mike
received his medical degree from Edinburgh University; he is a member of the
Royal College of Physicians in London, holds a Diploma in Pharmaceutical
Medicine and is a Fellow of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Physicians. He has
served on operational committees of the Association of the British
Pharmaceutical Industry and the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industry
Associations and on the editorial board of Applied Clinical Trials.

Stuart Naylor has been with Oxford BioMedica since its inception. He joined the
Company from the Institute of Cancer Research and has been a major figure in the
technical development of the Company's oncology programmes as well as pioneering
Oxford BioMedica's ocular products, including RetinoStat(R) for the treatment of
age-related macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy and StarGen(TM) for 
the treatment of Stargardt disease. Stuart has a first degree in Microbiology 
and Immunology, a Masters degree in Immunology and a PhD in Cancer Studies.

As required by the UK Combined Code on Corporate Governance, these appointments
have been discussed in advance with major shareholders. The appointment process
has been led by the Senior Independent Director as Chairman of the Nomination
Committee who commissioned an independent review of potential external
candidates. In reaching its recommendation, the Nomination Committee, composed
entirely of Non-Executive Directors and the Chairman, considered Oxford
BioMedica's technical foundations, future development and the significant
benefits of continuity to the Company and its shareholders.

Oxford BioMedica continues to make progress in line with the guidance and
objectives reported with its 2007 annual results on 10 March 2008.

Commenting on his retirement from the Board, Peter Johnson said: 'It has been a
great pleasure being part of the team at Oxford BioMedica that has seen the
Company progress from an early-stage research organisation to become a leading
UK biopharmaceutical company with products in advanced clinical development. I
wish the Company well as it continues to expand its development activities and
prepares for the commercialisation of its lead products.'

Alan Kingsman commented on the Board changes: 'As Oxford BioMedica has evolved
and grown, the emphasis is more and more on clinical development and
commercialisation. The Company now needs a leader with broad and deep experience
in the development, registration and launch of products. Mike McDonald, with his
extensive pharmaceutical company experience, ticks all of the boxes for such a
leadership position. I look forward to working with Mike, as we take Oxford
BioMedica to its next stage of corporate and commercial success. I would also
like to this opportunity to thank Peter Johnson for his valuable contributions
to the Company as both Non-Executive Director and Chairman. We all wish Peter
well for the future.'

Commenting on his appointment as Chief Executive Officer, Mike McDonald said: 'I
am both delighted and honoured to accept this position. Oxford BioMedica is an
exceptional Company with considerable potential. Our success in bringing our
first Phase III study to full recruitment on time and on budget and our recent
initiation of the first ever European gene therapy trial for Parkinson's disease
are testaments to the quality of the team at Oxford BioMedica. I look forward to
leading that team into the next phase of the Company's growth and continuing to
work closely with Alan Kingsman to deliver shareholder value and patient benefit
from this uniquely innovative product portfolio.'


                                   -Ends-



For further information, please contact:
Oxford BioMedica plc:

Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive            Tel: [phone]
JPMorgan Cazenove Limited:

James Mitford/ Gina Gibson                          Tel: [phone]
City/Financial Enquiries:

Lisa Baderoon/ Mark Court/ Mary-Jane Johnson        Tel: [phone]
Buchanan Communications
Scientific/Trade Press Enquiries:

Holly Griffiths/ Katja Stout                        Tel: [phone]

College Hill Life Sciences
US Enquiries:

Thomas Fechtner                                          Tel: [phone]

The Trout Group LLC



Notes to editors

1. Oxford BioMedica

Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB) is a biopharmaceutical company specialising in
cancer immunotherapy and gene-based therapies. The Company was established in
1995, as a spin-out from Oxford University, and is listed on the London Stock
Exchange.

The Company has a platform of gene delivery technologies, which are based on
highly engineered viral systems. Oxford BioMedica also has in-house clinical,
regulatory and manufacturing know-how. The lead product candidate is TroVax(R),
an immunotherapy for multiple solid cancers, which is licensed to sanofi-aventis
for global development and commercialisation. TroVax is in Phase III
development. Oxford BioMedica has three other products in clinical development,
including ProSavin(R), a novel gene-based treatment for Parkinson's disease, in
a Phase I/II trial. The Company is underpinned by over 80 patent families, which
represent one of the broadest patent estates in the field. The Company has a
staff of approximately 85. Oxford BioMedica has collaborations with
sanofi-aventis, Wyeth, Sigma-Aldrich, MolMed and Virxsys. Technology licensees
include Biogen Idec, Merck & Co, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer.


Further information is available at www.oxfordbiomedica.co.uk




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