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Ark Therapeutics is using its expertise and spare capacity to move into the contract manufacturing sector and is hoping to sign deals to produce the DNA-based medicine.

Innovator companies are increasingly offering contract services or manufacturing to provide an additional source of revenue, make potentially important contacts in the industry and help develop in-house knowledge and expertise.

The Florida Biologix team is committed to quality which ensures that your end product is optimal and the process exceeds expectations. Our collaborative approach ensures that the client is a partner and well informed throughout the project. Our team is flexible and experienced which ensures that technical or business issues are handled smoothly if they arise.

Our primary focus is to produce, test and/or fill cGMP compliant biopharmaceutical clinical trial material on time and at a reasonable price.

Some quick facts:

Oxford, UK – 1 June 2009: Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB), a leading gene therapy company, today announces updated results from open-label Phase I/II and II trials of TroVax in metastatic colorectal cancer and metastatic renal cancer. TroVax is Oxford BioMedica’s therapeutic cancer vaccine that targets the 5T4 tumour antigen. Two cross-trial analyses were presented at the 45th Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) in Orlando, Florida. In all trials, TroVax was well tolerated with no serious adverse events attributed to vaccination.

Ark Therapeutics, an Anglo-Finnish company announced that its was granted a permission to supply it's gene therapy drug Cerepro to named patients in Finland. Previously the company had obtained a similar approval for named patients in France after a submission by a local neurosurgeon.

Ark is expected to receive MAA decision from EMEA later this year and possibly become a first company to market gene therapy drugs in EU:

Oxford, UK – 29 April 2009: Oxford BioMedica (LSE: OXB) announced today that it has entered into a new collaboration with sanofi-aventis to develop novel gene-based medicines, utilising the Company’s LentiVector® gene delivery technology, for the treatment of ocular diseases. Oxford BioMedica will receive an upfront payment of US$26 million (£18 million) and committed funding of up to a further US$24 million (£16 million) over three years. In addition, sanofi-aventis has an exclusive option for a worldwide licence to develop and commercialise four ocular products.

Scientists at Schepens Eye Research Institute have found that the growth factor known as TGF-beta is essential to the health of blood vessels in the retina and that blocking it can cause retinal dysfunction. These findings, published in the April 2 issue of PLoS ONE, may have an important impact on the prevention and treatment of diseases such as diabetic retinopathy and macular degeneration.

Cancer Research UK scientists have for the first time developed a treatment that transports 'tumour busting' genes selectively to cancer cells, according to a study published online in Cancer Research*. Using nanotechnology, the researchers were able to package anti-cancer genes in very small particles that directed the treatment selectively to tumours in mice so that it was only taken up by cancer cells, leaving healthy cells unharmed. Once taken up by cancer cells, the genes enclosed in the nanoparticles force the cell to produce proteins that can kill the cancer.

As contrary to previous expectations, Gendicine's approval in India has not yet happened.

"HUBEI PROVINCE, China -- Benda Pharmaceutical, Inc. ("Benda" or the "Company") (OTCBB: BPMA), a China-based pharmaceutical company producing traditional Chinese and conventional medicines, as well as Gendicine([R]), the world's first commercialized gene therapy medicine for the treatment of cancer, announced today that Gendicine([R]) has passed major milestones in its clinical trials in India and is expected to be approved for sale in India in 2008.

GAITHERSBURG, MD – November 19, 2008 – GenVec, Inc. (Nasdaq: GNVC) announced today top-line results of an interim analysis from its ongoing Phase III Pancreatic Cancer Clinical Trial with TNFerade™ (PACT) in patients with locally advanced pancreatic cancer. This interim analysis of overall survival, conducted after the 92nd death (one-third of total expected events), was designed to determine whether the study should continue and took place in the time frame originally estimated.

Ark Therapeutics Group plc ("Ark" or the "Company") (AKT:LSE) today announces that the first Named Patient Supply (NPS) for Cerepro® has been approved by the French Medicines Control Agency (AFSSAPS) following a 'nominative' ATU application (Autorisation Temporaire d'Utilisation) made by a neuro-surgeon in France. Cerepro® (sitimagene ceradenovec), Ark's novel gene-based medicine, is being developed as an Orphan Drug for the treatment of operable malignant glioma.