Final Results - Year Ended 31 December 1999

Oxford Biomedica PLC
24 February 2000


For further information, please contact:       
Oxford BioMedica plc       

Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive       Tel: [phone]
City/Financial Enquiries:

David Simonson/Melanie Toyne Sewell
Merlin Financial Communications                Tel: [phone]

Scientific/Trade Press Enquiries:
Sue Charles/Sarah Pattinson 
HCC De Facto Group                             Tel:  [phone]


 OXFORD BIOMEDICA PRELIMINARY RESULTS FOR THE YEAR ENDED 31 DECEMBER 1999

. Increased revenues: turnover for the year ended 31 December 1999 was £0.4
million (1998: £0.05 million), including research funding from Aventis and
license income from Modex SA

. Careful financial management: in line with expectations the loss for the
period was £4.2 million (1998: £3.7 million) 

. A strong cash position: rights issue in March 1999 generated £3.2 million
(net).  Cash balance was further supplemented after the year end by successful
institutional placing of 13.7 million shares in January 2000, raising an
additional £5.0 million (net).

. Expanding commercial opportunities: well-defined forward strategy for
generating both short and long term revenue streams through the development of
three complimentary commercial areas - gene therapy, gene-based immunotherapy
and gene-based drug discovery.

. A strong clinical pipeline: MetXia-P450(TM) in phase I/II clinical trials
for breast cancer, with approval from GTAC and the MCA to proceed with testing
in ovarian cancer patients.  Preclinical data for the anti-cancer vaccine,
TroVax(TM) assembled for GTAC approval to proceed to phase I/II clinical
trials for colorectal cancer.

. Increased commercial activity: collaborative programmes and licensing deals
with Aventis, Modex, IDM and Viromed, and since the year end with Virbac and
AstraZeneca.

. Increasing investor confidence: signs of investors returning to the
biotechnology sector and to Oxford BioMedica with the market capitalisation
currently above £100 million for the first time.

Commenting on the Preliminary Results, Alan Goodman, Chairman of Oxford
BioMedica said:

'This has been a landmark year for Oxford BioMedica, with our first product in
clinical trials, a second product in clinical development, increased revenues
and new collaborations.  We are also pleased to be seeing a return of
investors to the biotechnology sector, and in particular to Oxford BioMedica.

'Our strategy is to build a broad spectrum of product opportunities through
the development of a wide range of in-house products and to establish
collaborative programmes with both large and small pharmaceutical companies. 
In 1999, we have considerably extended the range of commercial opportunities
while maintaining operational efficiency and strict financial control.  In
2000, we look forward to further exciting developments, including a planned
move from AIM to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange.'

Notes to Editors

1. Oxford BioMedica: Established in 1995, the Company specialises in the
development and application of gene-based therapeutics using advanced gene
delivery technologies for the treatment of disease in the areas of oncology,
viral infection and neurodegenerative disease. Oxford BioMedica plc was
floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in
December 1996.

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


CHAIRMAN'S STATEMENT

The Board of Oxford BioMedica plc is pleased to report on the Company's third
year in which significant progress has been made, and to announce the
preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 1999.

FINANCIAL REVIEW
Throughout 1999, the Board continued to maintain strong financial control, and
to operate within budget. The net loss for the year was £4.2 million compared
to £3.7 million in 1998. 

Income of £436,000 included research funding from the cardiovascular disease
programme with Rhone-Poulenc Rorer (now called Aventis) and license income
from Modex SA, both of which were new sources of income in 1999. 

Operating expenses were £5.1 million, of which research and development costs
were £3.8 million. The increase from 1998 (operating expenses £4.2 million;
research and development expenditure £3.0 million) reflects increased
activity, particularly in preclinical development. Administrative expenses
were £1.3 million compared to £1.2 million in 1998. Grant income, which is
linked to certain research and development projects, was £0.3 million (1998:
£0.2 million).

There was no tax charge, and the Group's tax losses are available for offset
against future taxable profits.

Capital expenditure was modest at £0.1 million (1998: £0.2 million), and the
net outflow of funds before new share issues was very close to 1998's level at
£3.7 million (1998: £3.6 million). The bank balance at 31 December 1999 was
£3.0 million. This was supplemented by the share placing in January 2000.

Fund raising
The climate for funding small biotechnology companies has been, to say the
least, unfavourable over the last three years. Nonetheless, the one-for-five
rights issue at 15p per share in March 1999 was successfully taken up, and
raised £3.2 million net of expenses.  The Board is pleased to see signs that
investors are now returning to the UK biotechnology sector, and to Oxford
BioMedica in particular. The Company's institutional placing of 13.7 million
shares in January 2000 at 38p per share raised £5.0 million net of expenses,
and was heavily oversubscribed. The subsequent rise in the Company's share
price has benefited all shareholders. In mid-January 2000 the Company's market
capitalisation was above £100 million ($160 million) for the first time.   

The share placing has provided additional working capital to support
continuing research, development and clinical programmes. Since it is the
Company's commercial strategy to proceed with the clinical development of
candidate products up to and including Phase I/II clinical trials, it will be
necessary to raise further funds in due course.  During the current year the
board expects that the Company will qualify to move its shares from AIM to the
Official List of the London Stock Exchange. 

OPERATIONAL REVIEW
Oxford BioMedica has made considerable progress this year in the building of a
broad base of activities from which both short and long term future earnings
might be generated.  To do this, the Company has developed its expertise in
gene transfer technologies to a point where it now encompasses three
complimentary commercial areas: gene therapy, gene-based immunotherapy, and
gene-based drug discovery.

Operational progress
Oxford BioMedica's first major collaboration, signed in December 1998 with
Aventis has made a good start, and the board looks forward to a successful
second year. The Company's first product, MetXia-P450(TM) is in a phase I/II
clinical trial for late stage breast cancer, and approval has been received
from the UK regulatory authorities for a trial of MetXia-P450(TM) in ovarian
cancer.  Compelling preclinical data has been generated from the Company's
cancer vaccine TroVax(TM), and there has been significant commercial interest
for the product from the pharmaceutical industry. The deal with the leading
veterinary company Virbac in February 2000 for the animal homologue of
TroVax(TM) is the first of several that this exciting programme is expected to
generate. 

BioMedica has continued to pursue the strategy of placing its technology in as
many product opportunities as possible, both through development of the
Company's own product pipeline, and also in partnership with others.
Throughout the last three years financial resources have been limited, and
focus has been on taking BioMedica's lead programmes in cancer therapy into
the clinic, with the Company's other programmes moving forward, but
necessarily taking a lower profile. BioMedica has been active in seeking other
companies in both the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries with whom
additional paths to markets can be found for its technology.  The deals with
Modex for a diabetes product, with IDM for cell therapy products, and the
establishment of a joint venture with Viromed in Korea create new
opportunities in multi-billion dollar markets in a highly cost-effective way.
BioMedica has also targeted the pharmaceutical industry's drug-discovery
programmes arising from their huge investment in genomics and proteomics as a
way of further leveraging the value in its gene-delivery systems, and now has
three deals in this area.

A growing part of the Company's portfolio of products and product
opportunities involves the induction of immune responses to fight disease.
TroVax(TM) is the most immediate of these, but the Company also has programmes
with great potential in the use of therapeutic antibodies and antibody
derivatives delivered as genes. The collaboration with IDM provides further
opportunities in this field.

BioMedica also has the opportunity for short-term revenues from making its
technology available to the pharmaceutical industry's drug discovery process,
and also has substantial long-term potential for milestone and royalty
earnings from its own and partners' product programmes. 

This diverse commercialisation of BioMedica's technology means that the
Company is not dependent for its commercial success on any single programme. 
The board recognises that the drug development process is inherently risky,
but that the exciting long-term potential returns from successful gene-based
products in major therapeutic markets will be an appropriate return for this
risk. This strategy ensures that risk is mitigated by taking a wide range of
paths to those markets, and that there is a spread of short-term and long-term
revenue opportunities.

Appointments
Two additional non-executive directors were welcomed to the board in 1999.
Mark Berninger and Peter Johnson bring invaluable experience in business
development, intellectual property management and pharmaceutical product
development to the Company.


In closing, the board would like to thank BioMedica's shareholders, old and
new, who have supported the Company through the last 3 years and looks forward
to further exciting developments in 2000, including the planned move up from
AIM to the Official List of the London Stock Exchange.


Alan Goodman
Chairman


Consolidated profit and loss account
for the year ended 31 December 1999
                                                         1999            1998
                                                   (unaudited)       (audited)
                                                        £'000           £'000
              
Turnover                                                  436              50 
              
Research and development                               (3,764)         (2,982)
Administrative expenses                                (1,346)         (1,194)
Operating expenses                                     (5,110)         (4,176)

Other operating income: government grants receivable      267             182 
Net operating expenses                                 (4,843)         (3,994)

Operating loss                                         (4,407)         (3,944)

Interest receivable                                       218             263 

Loss on ordinary activities before taxation            (4,189)         (3,681)
Tax on loss on ordinary activities                          -               - 

Loss for the year                                      (4,189)         (3,681)
              
Basic loss and diluted loss per ordinary share          (3.0p)          (3.4p)



Consolidated balance sheet
at 31 December 1999

                                                         1999            1998
                                                   (unaudited)       (audited)
                                                        £'000           £'000
Fixed assets              
Intangible assets                                         332             381 
Tangible assets                                           773             936 
Investments                                                26               - 
                                                        1,131           1,317
Current assets              
Debtors: amounts falling due within one year              432             358 
Cash at bank and in hand                                3,039           3,566 
                                                        3,471           3,924 

Creditors: amounts falling due within one year           (801)           (480)

Net current assets                                      2,670           3,444 

Net assets                                              3,801           4,761 

              
Capital and reserves               
Called-up share capital                                 1,422           1,185 
Share premium account                                  12,549           9,557
Other reserve                                             711             711
Profit and loss account (deficit)                     (10,881)         (6,692)
Equity shareholders' funds                              3,801           4,761 


Consolidated cash flow statement 
for the year ended 31 December 1999

                                                         1999            1998
                                                   (unaudited)       (audited)
                                                        £'000           £'000
Operating activities              
Net cash outflow from continuing operating activities  (3,800)         (3,635)
(reconciliation to operating loss see below)

Returns on investments and servicing of finance              
Interest received                                         218             263

Capital expenditure and financial investment              
Purchase of tangible fixed assets                        (136)           (267)
Investment in joint venture                               (26)              -
                                                         (162)           (267)
Net cash outflow before management of liquid 
resources and financing                                (3,744)         (3,639)
              
Management of liquid resources              
Transfer to deposit accounts                           (6,291)         (5,200)
Transfer to current accounts                            6,291           5,200
                                                            -               -
Financing              
Issue of ordinary shares                                3,556           6,302
Expenses of share issue                                  (339)           (609)
                                                        3,217           5,693

(Decrease)/increase  in cash in the year                 (527)          2,054


Reconciliation of operating loss to net cash outflow 
from operating activities

                                                         1999            1998
                                                   (unaudited)       (audited)
                                                        £'000           £'000
              
Continuing activities              
Operating loss                                         (4,407)         (3,944)
Amortisation on intangible fixed assets                    49              50
Depreciation on tangible fixed assets                     296             264
Loss on disposal of fixed assets                            1               1
Increase in trade debtors                                 (24)              -
Decrease/(increase) in other debtors and other 
tax receivable                                             27            (133)
Increase in prepayments and accrued income                (77)              -
Increase in trade creditors                               162              19
Increase in other taxation and social security             29               5
Increase in accruals and deferred income                  144             103
Net cash outflow from continuing operating activities   (3,800)        (3,635)


Notes to accounts

1. The preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 1999 are unaudited
and do not constitute the Company's statutory financial statements within the
meaning of s227 of the Companies Act 1985. The financial information for the
year ended 31 December 1998 is derived from the statutory accounts for that
year which have been delivered to the registrar of companies. The auditors
report on those accounts was unqualified. The statutory accounts for the year
ended 31 December 1999 will be finalised on the basis of the financial
information presented by the directors in this preliminary announcement and
will be delivered to the Registrar of Companies following the Company's annual
general meeting. 

2. The basic loss per share has been calculated on a weighted average number
of shares of 137,599,908 in issue during the year (1998: 106,853,160). The
Company had no dilutive potential shares in either period and there is
therefore no difference between the loss per ordinary share and the diluted
loss per ordinary share. The weighted average number of shares in issue has
been adjusted for the effect of the Rights Issue in March 1999.

3. The annual general meeting will be held on 26 April 2000 at 11 a.m. at the
offices of Weil, Gotshal & Manges, 3rd floor, One South Place, London, EC2M
2WG.

4. Copies of this announcement are available from the Company Secretary. The
audited statutory financial statements for the year ended 31 December 1999 are
expected to be distributed to shareholders by 24 March 2000 and will be
available at the registered office of the Company, Medawar Centre, Oxford
Science Park, Oxford, Ox4 4GA.

5. This announcement was approved by the board of Oxford BioMedica plc on 23
February 2000.