Oxford: BioMedica enters into worldwide deal to develop Parkinson's disease therapy

Oxford BioMedica plc, the leading gene and cell therapy group, has entered into an exclusive worldwide licensing agreement with Axovant Sciences to develop and commercialise OXB-102, a gene therapy developed by Oxford BioMedica for Parkinson’s disease.

Under the terms of the agreement, Oxford BioMedica will receive a $30 million upfront payment (approximately £22m) including $5m as pre-payment for manufacturing activities related to OXB-102, now renamed, AXO-Lenti-PD. Oxford BioMedica is also eligible to receive $55m upon the achievement of specified development milestones and $757.5m upon the achievement of specified regulatory and sales milestones, with 7% to 10% tiered royalties on net sales of AXO-Lenti-PD.

Axovant Sciences, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company dedicated to advancing treatments for patients with life-altering neurologic conditions and a member of the Roivant family of companies, will fund all clinical development costs and manufacturing process development and scale-up activities for AXO-Lenti-PD. The agreement also allows for both parties to put in place a clinical and commercial supply agreement for GMP manufacturing of AXO-Lenti-PD at Oxford BioMedica. Roivant remains committed to Axovant’s success and are excited about the scientific potential of AXO-Lenti-PD. Axovant will be able to harness the full Roivant drug development platform to ensure its rapid development.

Axovant Sciences expects to initiate a Phase I/II dose escalation study of AXO-Lenti-PD in patients with advanced Parkinson’s disease by the end of 2018.

Oxford BioMedica is one of the UK's oldest biotech companies. It was spun out of the University of Oxford over 10 years ago.