Oxford Biomedica's Parkinson's licensee pulls out

Sio Gene Therapies told Oxford on Monday that it would stop work on AXO-Lenti-PD, a gene therapy programme for Parkinson's. This followed the departure of Sio's chief executive and its announcement that resources were constrained, Oxford said.

The rights will be returned at no cost to Oxford. The impact on revenue will be negligible for at least 24 months, Oxford said. The company said it did not plan to invest in developing the "non-core legacy asset" and would license it out to another company.

Roch Doliveux, chair and interim chief executive of Oxford Biomedica, said: "Following our announcement on Friday, Oxford Biomedica 's goal is to become an innovative global viral vector leader that provides solutions to Cell and Gene Therapy for their process development and manufacturing needs across key viral vectors. The Parkinson's programme is non-core to our strategy."

Oxford announced a partnership with Homology Medicines on Friday and a plan to raise £80m from shareholders to invest in a joint business.