Xenova hails key treatments

British biotech firm Xenova today said it was making progress with its key cancer and anti-addiction drugs as it posted a 3% fall in half-yearly operating losses to £8.1m (€12.1m).

Slough-based Xenova said its most advanced product, the TransMID treatment for brain cancer, entered phase three patient trials in May in the United States.

It added that trials with its cocaine and nicotine addiction vaccines – TA-CD and TA-NIC – had shown positive results.

The group, which decided last year to focus on key prioritised development programmes for cancer and anti-addiction drugs, said its strategy had been successful.

Chief executive David Oxlade said: “We are pleased with the progress made.”

Xenova also has operations in Cambridge, while KS Biomedix – a biotech firm which Xenova bought last year – has sites in Guildford and Farnham in the UK; Edmonton, Canada, and Philadelphia in the US.

Xenova said it had reached agreement with the US Food and Drug Administration for the revised phase-three clinical trial for TransMID, with the first patient being dosed with the drug shortly afterwards.

It said positive initial results with TA-CD and TA-NIC announced in the first half had generated interest with investors and media on both sides of the Atlantic.

The group said it had achieved its aims relating to the disposal of surplus property in the UK, having announced the £800,000 (€1.2m) sale of part of KS Biomedix’s Farnham site in January.

In April, Xenova signed a 10-year agreement with Genzyme to take up vacant space in the Cambridge Science Park.

The group employs 105 staff at its sites in the UK and north America.