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February 11, 2009 - Oxford BioMedica, a gene therapy company, has announced that a planned further investment of $250,000 has been made in the company under the collaboration agreement with the Foundation Fighting Blindness through its translational research arm, the National Neurovision Research Institute. The investment, which originated from Paul Manning, a director of the National Neurovision Research Institute (NNRI), is supporting the continuing development of StarGen. StarGen is Oxford BioMedica's novel gene therapy, which uses the LentiVector technology to deliver a corrected version of a gene that is mutated in patients with Stargardt disease. Under the original collaboration agreement announced in October 2006, the Foundation Fighting Blindness (FFB) and a consortium of investors are committed to invest up to $3.9 million in the StarGen program, by subscribing to new ordinary shares in Oxford BioMedica. The share subscriptions will be made in stages and priced at a 10% premium to the market price at the time of investment. StarGen has shown preclinical efficacy in the only available model of Stargardt disease, said Oxford BioMedica. A single administration was effective for the duration of the six-month study. Further preclinical development is ongoing or beginning at multiple sites in the US, including Columbia University, Yerkes Research Center at Emory University and Oregon Health and Science University. John Dawson, chief executive of Oxford BioMedica, said: "We are delighted to have the continued support of the FFB for the development of StarGen in Stargardt disease. Since there are no available treatments for this disease of juvenile onset, StarGen is addressing an important medical need. It also has potential to treat cone-rod dystrophy and certain types of the dry form of macular degeneration, where the same mutant gene plays a role. These indications would significantly expand the market opportunity for StarGen." |
