 | |
| Company type | Public company |
|---|---|
| Industry | Pharmaceutical industry |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Headquarters | Oxford |
Key people | Frank Mathias (CEO) |
| Revenue |  £89.5 million (2023) [1] |
| £(184.2) million (2023) [1] | |
| £(184.2) million (2023) [1] | |
| Website | https://oxb.com/ |
Oxford Biomedica is a gene and cell therapy company specialising in the development of gene-based medicines. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange. [2]
The company was established in 1995 as a spin out from the University of Oxford. [3] It was the subject of an initial public offering on the Alternative Investment Market in 1996. [4]
In 2018, Oxford Biomedica's gene therapy for Parkinson's disease became the subject of a commercialization deal with Axovant Sciences. [5]
In May 2019, the company announced an investment by Novo Holdings for a stake of 10.1% in Oxford Biomedica, totalling $55 million (USD) to develop its gene therapy technology. [6] The firm had already established collaborations with Sanofi, Novartis and other groups to provide lentiviral vector manufacturing. [7]
In November 2019, Microsoft announced a partnership with Oxford Biomedica to improve the next generation of cell and gene delivery technology using the cloud and machine learning, contributing large data sets for analysis via the Microsoft Azure intelligent cloud platform to develop in-silico models and novel algorithms to help provide long-term and curative treatments for a wide range of diseases. [8]
In December 2019, the company announced that it has extended its commercial supply agreement with Novartis for the manufacture of lentiviral vectors for the Novartis CAR-T portfolio including five lentiviral vectors for CAR-T products, which builds on the existing three-year commercial supply agreement signed by the parties in July 2017. [9]
In April 2020, Oxford Biomedica announced that the company had joined a Consortium led by the Jenner Institute, Oxford University, to develop and manufacture a vaccine for COVID-19: ChAdOx1 nCov-19. [10] This is one of the vaccines currently being deployed under a conditional authorisation. [11] [12]
In September 2023, it was announced Oxford Biomedica had acquired the Illkirch-Graffenstaden-headquartered, viral vectors drug product manufacturing services company, ABL Europe from the Mérieux Institute. [13]
Gene therapy is a medical technology that aims to produce a therapeutic effect through the manipulation of gene expression or through altering the biological properties of living cells.
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Novartis Gene Therapies, until 2020 known as AveXis, is a biotechnology company that develops treatments for rare neurological genetic disorders. It was founded in Dallas, Texas, United States in 2012 by John Carbona after reorganizing a company called BioLife Cell Bank founded by David Genecov and John Harkey. Work done at Nationwide Children's Hospital in the laboratory of Brian Kaspar was licensed to AveXis in October 2013. Unusual for the time, Nationwide Children's Hospital, in addition to upfront and milestone payments, also took an equity position in AveXis. Kaspar became paid consultant pari passu with the license agreement in 2013. The company was built specifically around a discovery of a novel method of treating spinal muscular atrophy using gene therapy. AveXis was acquired by Novartis in 2018 for USD 8.7 billion.
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