RNS Number : 9811X
Oxford Biomedica PLC
01 July 2008
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 1 JULY 2008
OXFORD BIOMEDICA RESPONSE TO BAVARIAN NORDIC'S US LITIGATION
Oxford, UK - 1 July 2008: Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB), a leading gene therapy company,
today announces that it has been informed that
Bavarian Nordic filed a patent infringement action against Oxford BioMedica plc, BioMedica
Inc. and Oxford BioMedica (UK) Ltd., in the
United States District Court for the Southern District of California regarding US Patent Nos.6,761,893, 6,913,752, and 7,335,364, which
relate to Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA). These patents correspond to Bavarian Nordic's
European Patent No. 1335987, which is the subject of
multiple oppositions, all asserting the invalidity of the claimed technology.
Bavarian Nordic's claim is that the MVA vector system employed in Oxford BioMedica's
therapeutic cancer vaccine, TroVax, which is in
clinical development, infringes these US patents.
Oxford BioMedica views Bavarian Nordic's US litigation as being without merit. Oxford
BioMedica is confident in its position, is fully
prepared to oppose this action vigorously, and will seek all appropriate relief against
Bavarian Nordic.
Peter Nolan, Oxford BioMedica's Senior Vice President, Commercial Development, commented:
"Throughout our 11 year history, Oxford
BioMedica has been diligent to ensure that it has freedom to operate for all its development
programmes and is entirely respectful of the
intellectual property that has been developed by others. We believe that Bavarian Nordic's
claim is unwarranted and we have a high degree of
confidence that this action will prove fruitless for Bavarian Nordic."
-Ends-
For further information, please contact:
Oxford BioMedica plc:
Mike McDonald, Chief Executive Officer Tel: +44 (0)1865 783 000
Nick Woolf, Chief Business Officer
JPMorgan Cazenove Limited:
James Mitford/ Gina Gibson Tel: +44 (0)20 7588 2828
City/Financial Enquiries:
Lisa Baderoon/ Mark Court/ Mary-Jane Tel: +44 (0)20 7466 5000
Johnson Buchanan Communications
Scientific/Trade Press Enquiries:
Holly Griffiths/ Katja Stout/ Claire Mosley Tel: +44 (0)20 7457 2020
College Hill Life Sciences
US Enquiries:
Thomas Fechtner Tel: (646) 378 2900
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®, a therapeutic vaccine 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®, 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
2. TroVax®
TroVax is Oxford BioMedica's novel therapeutic cancer vaccine, which is being developed in
collaboration with sanofi-aventis. It is
designed specifically to stimulate an anti-cancer immune response and has potential
application in most solid tumour types. TroVax targets
the tumour antigen 5T4, which is broadly distributed throughout a wide range of solid tumours.The presence of 5T4 is correlated with poor
prognosis. The product consists of a Modified Vaccinia Ankara vector, which delivers the gene
for 5T4 and stimulates a patient's body to
produce an anti-5T4 immune response. This immune response destroys tumour cells carrying the
5T4.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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