Preclinical Results - Parkinson's Disease Product

Oxford Biomedica PLC
16 November 1999
                                                                     99/OB/15


        OXFORD BIOMEDICA DEVELOPMENT OF VECTOR SYSTEM FOR GENE TRANSFER 
                       IN THERAPY FOR NEURAL DISEASES

Oxford BioMedica reports important preclinical results for its Parkinson's
disease product, ProSavinTM in the current issue of the scientific journal
'Gene Therapy'.  The paper reports, for the first time, efficient transfer of
genes to the brain using the Company's proprietary LentiVectorTM system, which
is based on the horse virus, equine infectious anaemia virus (EIAV).

Commenting on the results Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive said: 'Our
neuroscientists have been able to deliver genes to the exact point in the
brain that is defective in a Parkinson's disease patient.  We are now moving
into preclinical models where therapeutic genes will be delivered to this site
in the hope that we can treat the cause of this disease.'

The potential market for gene therapy approaches to the treatment of
Parkinson's disease is estimated to be over US $1 billion in the US and
Europe.

Andrew Wood, Oxford BioMedica's Finance Director commented: 'This new
technology has many commercial applications beyond Parkinson's disease.  These
include other neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, and
blood disorders such as leukaemia.  In addition, the Company is in discussion
with a number of pharmaceutical companies who are interested in using the
technology for their internal drug discovery programmes.'


For further information, please contact:

Oxford BioMedica plc
Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive              Tel: [phone]

City / Financial Enquiries:
David Simonson / Melanie Toyne Sewell                 Tel: [phone]

Scientific / Trade press Enquiries
Michaela Mahon / Sarah Pattinson, HCC de Facto       Tel: [phone]


Notes to Editors

1. Oxford BioMedica plc: Established in 1995, the Company specialises in the
development and application of gene-based therapeutics using advance gene
delivery technologies for the treatment of disease in the areas of Oncology,
Viral Infection, Neurobiology and Genetic Deficiency.  Oxford BioMedica plc
was floated on the UK Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock
Exchange in December 1996.

2. Lentivirus vector systems
In gene therapy, the aim is to deliver a gene and its necessary regulatory
elements (the gene construct) to the cell surface, using a vector to mediate
the transfer across the cell membrane and, in some cases, into the nucleus.  A
new and potentially very powerful vector system is based on lentiviruses,
which have similar features to retroviruses in the ease of manipulation,
predictable integration and reliable gene expression and regulation.  However,
their main advantage over retroviruses is the ability to function in
non-dividing cells or cells that are dividing slowly - a feature of neural
cells.

3. Types of lentiviruses
Lentivirus vectors are constructed from two sources: 
- primate viruses e.g. human or simian immunodeficiency virus (HIV or SIV)
- non-primate viruses e.g. feline and bovine immunodeficiency viruses (FIV and
BIV), and one of the most simple, equine infective anaemia virus (EIAV)

4. Move away from HIV-based vectors
Most lentiviral vector development has focused on the HIV-1-derived system as
HIV is the most thoroughly characterised of the lentiviruses.  However
concerns over the use of HIV-based vectors for diseases other than HIV
infection are leading to the use of non-primate viruses.

5. Research paper
To read the original research paper, please see Gene Therapy (1999) 1808-1818
or go to www.stockton-press.co.uk/gt

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