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Oxford Biomedica’s Innurex® Product Restores Limb Function In A Preclinical Model Of Avulsion Injury -
Data presented at the 7th Annual Meeting of the American Society
For Gene Therapy - Oxford,
UK: 2 June 2004 –
Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB), the leading gene
therapy company,
announced today that preclinical data from the Innurex nerve repair programme
are being presented by Dr. Nicholas Mazarakis, the Company’s Vice President
for Neurobiology, at the 7th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Gene
Therapy held in Minneapolis from June 2-6. The data, which will shortly be
sent for peer-reviewed publication, show that Innurex is able to restore
function to damaged limbs in a model of avulsion (stretch) injury. These
results indicate that Innurex may have clinical benefit in patients with nerve
damage resulting from severe pull/stretch injury, a common consequence of
sporting and motor accidents. Within
the field of neurobiology nerve repair has been a long sought goal for the
treatment of nerve damage and spinal injury. The aim is to induce nerve cells
to regrow and bridge sites of injury thereby reconnecting the nerve fibres and
restoring function. At present there are no effective therapies for nerve
damage and spinal injury. The
new results with Innurex are the first functional data to come from Oxford
BioMedica’s nerve repair programme and they indicate that the new nerve
connections induced by Innurex restore substantial function to limbs that have
a damaged nerve supply. The data were generated from an ongoing collaboration
between Oxford BioMedica and Professors Malcolm Maden and Stephen McMahon at
King’s College London. Prof.
Alan Kingsman, Oxford BioMedica’s Chief Executive, said: “Innurex goes
from strength to strength. In December of last year we announced that Innurex
had been shown to induce nerve regrowth in vivo. We now know that the regrowth
is significant in that injured limbs regain both movement and sensation as a
result of treatment with Innurex.” -Ends-Notes to Editors
1.
Oxford
BioMedica (LSE: OXB) is a biopharmaceutical company specialising in the
development of novel gene-based therapeutics with a focus on the areas of
oncology and neurotherapy. The Company was established in 1995 as a spin out
from In
addition to its technical expertise in gene delivery, Oxford BioMedica has
in-house clinical, regulatory and manufacturing know-how. The development
pipeline includes two novel anti-cancer products in clinical trials and two
neurotherapy products in advanced preclinical development for Parkinson’s
disease and retinopathy. The Company is underpinned by an extensive
preclinical and research portfolio and about 70 patent families, which
represents one of the broadest patent estates in the field. The
Company has a staff of approx 65 split between its main facilities in Further
information is available at http://www.oxfordbiomedica.co.uk 2.
Innurex® Innurex
is a product comprising Oxford BioMedica’s LentiVector delivery system
carrying the RARβ2 gene (a subtype of the retinoic acid receptor). The
Company acquired exclusive rights to the RARβ2 gene from King’s College
London where the initial observation that this gene could programme nerve
cells to regrow in vitro
was made. The product is being investigated extensively in in
vivo
industry-standard preclinical models of nerve repair in avulsion and spinal
cord injury. In April 2004, the Christopher Reeve Paralysis Foundation awarded
a grant to King’s College London to explore the use of Innurex in spinal
cord injury. 3.
King's College King's
is one of the oldest and largest colleges of the
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