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(Alliance News) - Oxford BioMedica PLC on Tuesday said its technology has been licenced by Boehringer Ingelheim to develop a cystic fibrosis gene therapy.
German pharmaceutical firm Boehringer Ingelheim will pay the GBP3.5 million option exercise fee to licence Oxford BioMedica's lentiviral vector technology, the company said.
This technology will be used to manufacture, register and commercialise BI 3720931, a gene therapy for the treatment of cystic fibrosis. If successful, the company expects to produce large amounts of lentiviral vectors.
Under the pair's 2018 deal, Oxford Biomedica said it is entitled to a further GBP27.5 million in development, regulatory and sales milestones. The company also will receive low single digit royalties on net sales of the ultimate cystic fibrosis gene therapy.
"Boehringer Ingelheim has also exercised its option to license intellectual property and know-how from IP Group [PLC] and the UK Cystic Fibrosis Gene Therapy Consortium relating to the same lentiviral vector-based product candidate for the treatment of [cystic fibrosis]," the company said.
"The approach has the potential to address all of the more than 2,000 different known gene mutations across [cystic fibrosis] patients, and therefore offers a gene-independent disease-modifying treatment option for patients," it added.
Cystic fibrosis is a rare and life-threatening disease caused by a defective or missing protein linked to the CFTR gene. The disease causes severe dysfunction and persistent lung infections and affects 70,000 people worldwide, Boehringer Ingelheim said.
Shares in Oxford BioMedica were trading flat at 1,490.00 pence each in London on Tuesday morning.
By Scarlett Butler; scarlettbutler@alliancenews.com
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