Re Alliance

Oxford Biomedica PLC
8 May 2002


For immediate release

                                                                     8 May 2002

For further information, please contact:
Oxford BioMedica plc
Professor Alan Kingsman, Chief Executive                Tel: [phone]
City/Financial Enquiries:
Melanie Toyne Sewell / Fiona Noblet
Financial Dynamics                                      Tel: [phone]
Scientific/Trade Press Enquiries:
Chris Gardner, HCC•De Facto Group                       Tel: [phone]





            OXFORD BIOMEDICA PLC AND INSTITUTE OF OPHTHALMOLOGY
                        NEW RESEARCH COLLABORATION

Oxford and London, United Kingdom - 8 May 2002. Oxford BioMedica plc (LSE:OXB)
('BioMedica') and the Institute of Ophthalmology in London announced today a
research and development collaboration to develop novel products to treat the
most common causes of blindness in the developed world.

Age-related macular degeneration ('AMD') and diabetic retinopathy ('DR') affect
approximately 30 million people in the developed world and the market potential
is in excess of $1.0 billion. In both AMD and DR, blindness is caused by the
defective formation of new blood vessels in the retina. In AMD, new blood
vessels extend from the inner retina beyond the inner limiting membrane which
leads to haemorrhaging and distortion of the specific area of the retinal
surface responsible for sharp, central vision. In DR, a similar process occurs
however, the new blood vessels appear on the vitreous surface of the retina
causing excessive accumulation of fluid or 'oedema', which blurs vision and
causes retinal haemorrhage. Currently, the only available treatments for AMD and
DR are limited and tend to only slow the diseases' progression.

Over the past year, BioMedica has been evaluating its lentiviral gene transfer
platform and its gene switch technology, based on the Hypoxia Response Element
('HRE'), for use in the treatment of eye diseases. LentiVector(R) has been shown
to be uniquely suited for delivering genes to the eye and the HRE is ideally
suited to control genes involved in formation of blood vessels - the angiogenic
response - the underlying cause of AMD and DR. The collaboration with the
Institute of Ophthalmology is designed to develop new gene-based products for
treatment of AMD and DR that act by blocking inappropriate blood vessel growth.
If successful the products could move into clinical development within a year.

The Institute of Ophthalmology has the strongest multidisciplinary scientific
resource of any such eye centre in the world. The Institute's world leading
programme of research into the mechanisms and treatment of eye disease draws on
the tremendous clinical resource of Moorfields Eye Hospital and with this
provides an unparalleled focus for the rapid development of new treatments. The
Institute of Ophthalmology was recently awarded UK government funding under the
Wellcome Trust sponsored JIF mechanism to create a centre for the identification
and development of novel treatment strategies for ocular disease.

Commenting on the collaboration BioMedica's chief executive, Prof. Alan Kingsman
said:

'We are delighted to be working alongside one of the world's leading
ophthalmology centres. This programme has been in development for some time now,
and has been extremely successful. It is now ready to move forward with the
development of novel products that address this very large market.'


Background to age-related macular degeneration ('AMD') and diabetic retinopathy
('DR')

AMD is now one of the major debilitating diseases of the ageing population.
About one in six people between the ages of 55 and 64 will develop AMD while one
in four between 64 and 74 will be affected. One in three over the age of 75 will
be affected. Each year 1.2 million of the estimated 12 million Americans with
macular degeneration will suffer severe central vision loss. Each year 200,000
individuals will lose all central vision in one or both eyes due to AMD.

DR is the commonest cause of visual loss in people of working age and the
predominant cause of economic loss due to visual impairment. Over 40% of people
with insulin dependant and 20% of people with non-insulin dependent diabetes
eventually succumb to diabetic retinopathy. In the US alone, where an estimated
16 million people have either type I or II diabetes, about 600,000 have
retinopathy. Direct and indirect costs of diabetic retinopathy totalled more
than $ 2.8 billion in 1996. 2% of insulin dependent diabetics are totally blind,
many of them in the younger age group.

                                     -Ends-



Notes to Editors

1.         Oxford BioMedica plc

Established in 1995, the Company specialises in the application of gene-based
technology to the development of novel therapeutics. Its three principal
activities are in the fields of gene therapy, immunotherapy and genomics, and
its principal therapeutic areas are in cancer and neurodegenerative diseases.
Oxford BioMedica plc was floated on the Alternative Investment Market of the
London Stock Exchange in December 1996, and was promoted to the United Kingdom
Listing Authority Official List in April 2001 following a successful £35.5
million fund-raising.

Oxford BioMedica is headquartered in Oxford, UK and has operating centres in
Oxford and San Diego, USA

Currently Oxford BioMedica has corporate collaborations with Aventis, IDM,
Nycomed Amersham, Valentis, Virbac and Wyeth. BioMedica has two products in
Phase I/II clinical trials: MetXia(R) for late-stage breast cancer, and TroVax
(R) for late-stage colorectal cancer.



2.         LentiVector(R)

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.
LentiVector(R) is a new and increasingly powerful vector system 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
many clinically important tissues including the central and peripheral nervous
systems.

Oxford BioMedica is a leader in the development and application of lentiviral
vectors. Its proprietary LentiVector(R) technology is protected by international
patents, including recently granted US patents.

BioMedica's candidate products for AMD and DR are based on equine infective
anaemia virus (EIAV). EIAV is one of the most simple lentiviruses and is not
known to cause disease in humans. For use in gene therapy, the virus is
engineered so that it delivers only therapeutic genes and not viral genes.
LentiVector(R) also has important potential applications in product development
and target validation of genomic targets.


3.       Hypoxia Response Element

The hypoxia response element (HRE) is a segment of DNA that switches genes on in
low oxygen, a condition found in a variety of diseases including cancer and
cardiovascular disease.  BioMedica has extensive experience working with the
biology of hypoxia responses, and has issued patents covering the use of HRE. In
addition to its application in AMD and DR, BioMedica has also used the HRE in a
candidate product to treat anaemia.

4.       World Wide Web

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



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