"SUBSTANTIAL VALUE GENERATION THIS YEAR AND IN 2005"
LONDON (AFX) - Oxford Biomedica PLC reported widening losses in the first
half to end-June but it said it sees substantial value generation this year and
in 2005 through progress in product development and corporate licensing.
The company also announced today that the primary endpoints have been
achieved at the interim stage of two Phase II trials in patients with Stage IV
colorectal cancer receiving TroVax alongside chemotherapy.
TroVax is the company's novel cancer immunotherapy product against the
tumour associated antigen 5T4.
The results from an interim analysis of both trials, initiated in 2003,
showed that the combination of TroVax and standard of care chemotherapy is safe
and that patients mount specific immune responses to the 5T4 antigen. Oxford Bio
said there have been no serious adverse events associated with TroVax treatment
and the product was well tolerated.
Chief executive Alan Kingsman said the clinical results with TroVax add
further value to the company's lead oncology product, while the neurotherapy
pipeline continues to generate exciting preclinical proof of concept data.
He said the group expects further licensing deals for both its technologies
and its lead products.
In addition to trials of Trovax, Oxford said the first trial with MetXia(R)
in pancreatic cancer commenced enrolment during the period under review.
The neurotherapy pipeline based on the company's LentiVector technology has
also progressed over the period. The lead product, ProSavin for Parkinson's
disease, is on-track to enter clinical trials in 2005.
Turning to the group's financial results for the half-year, it said its
financial position remains strong and the company has continued to invest in its
expanded clinical development programme, while maintaining tight control over
spending.
The restructuring of the US operation is complete, and provision has been
made in the June 2004 accounts for the estimated total costs of this
reorganisation.
The pretax loss in the first half was 7.3 mln stg compared wiht a loss of
6.1 mln stg.
As a result of making provisions for the estimated total costs of
restructuring in the first half of 2004, the company expects that net operating
expenses for the second half will be approximately 1.5 mln stg lower than the
first half.
Revenue of 293,000 stg, up fro 110,000 in 2003, included the initial payment
under the agreement with Viragen, and a proportion of the first-year licence fee
from Merck & Co was recognised as revenue in the first half.
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