Oxford BioMedica surges on Parkinson's trial success

Following hot on the heels of Phytopharm's announcement yesterday that its Parkinson's treatment had delivered promising results in animal and human studies, Oxford BioMedica thrilled analysts with a peek at some promising mid-stage data for its Parkinson's drug, ProSavin. Patients taking a second dose of ProSavin in a Phase II trial demonstrated an improvement, according to the gene therapy company, and researchers say that the results warrant the use of a higher dose that could prove even more effective. Word of the trial success doubled the biotech's share price, which had been battered following the failure of its cancer vaccine TroVax.

"We acknowledge the limitation of this trial, namely a small sample size, open-label trial and the change to mode of administration for the third cohort introduces execution risk but this project represents a significant step-change in technology," commented Panmure Gordon. "ProSavin is not simply a better mouse trap in the treatment of Parkinson's disease. To continue the mouse trap analogy, ProSavin represents a different way of catching mice."

"This [data] puts the product in line with the leading gene therapy treatments in development," noted the analysts at KBC Peel Hunt. "The therapy is potentially complementary to oral products such as Phytopharm's Cogane." Phytopharm, meanwhile, is enjoying even bigger gains in its share price this morning after its stock tripled in value yesterday.

- for a complete look at the data, see the release
- here's the story from the Guardian

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