Gene therapy For the delivery of gene based therapeutic products, BioVex has constructed proprietary vectors that address many of the issues that have slowed the development of practical gene therapy. BioVex is developing its own products in this field, and also intends to develop products in collaboration with other companies. Some 50,000 Americans are diagnosed with the disease every year. Parkinson's disease is a chronic and progressive neurodegenerative disorder of the central nervous system characterised by resting tremor, slowness of movement and stiffness in the arms and legs. The symptoms are caused by a loss of dopamine producing neurons in the substantia nigra of the brain.
Current therapies focus on symptomatic treatment and become progressively less effective over time.
BioVex will initially target the later stage patient population where the need for effective therapy is greatest. Some eight million Americans are currently living with cancer with total figures for the developed world in excess of twice the US total. Solid tumours are particularly difficult to treat. These are the targets for BioVex's products in cancer. OncoVEX has the potential to provide a new platform technology in solid tumour therapy.