GENE therapy firm Oxford BioMedica has cut its losses despite problems with one of its key treatments.
The company, based at Oxford Science Park, has posted a pre-tax loss before exceptional items of £5,480,000 for the year ended December 31 2008, 63 per cent lower than the 2007 figure. But last year the firm axed 13 staff — more than ten per cent of the workforce — as part of cost savings to allow the company to survive until the first half of 2010, following a huge fall in its share price.
The shares crashed when regulators said kidney cancer volunteers in a trial of key drug TroVax should receive no more treatments.
Chief financial officer Andrew Wood said: “The anticipated delay to the potential launch of TroVax and the weakness of the financial markets have caused the group to assess very carefully current resources and spending plans in 2009-10. We estimate our current cash is sufficient to support the group’s operations into the second half of 2010. We continue to explore ways to extend our cash for operations.”
The company is waiting for further feedback on TroVax from the US Food and Drug Administration before development can continue, but the company is concentrating on the kidney cancer treatment and its Parkinson’s Disease medication ProSavin.
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