Oxford BioMedica announced in October 200 that its collaboration in the diabetes field with Modex Therapeutics of Lausanne, Switzerland has been terminated by mutual agreement
Strategically, Modex has decided to discontinue its diabetes programme and focus on its other development programmes.
There is no financial loss for BioMedica associated with this termination.
The collaboration, initiated in July 1999, used BioMedica's LentiVector to modify pancreatic b-islet cells.
The vectors have been shown to deliver genes very efficiently to these cells and have met all of the expectations.
BioMedica is currently in discussion with two other companies with interests in diabetes applications.
An exciting opportunity in this field is the application of LentiVector to stem cell engineering approaches.
Professor Alan Kingsman, chief executive, commented: "We are sorry that Modex has moved away from its diabetes programme.
"However, with respect to BioMedica, the Modex programme represented only a minor part of our activities and our other programmes, including the two clinical trials, are progressing very well."
