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. Initial proof of principle trials will take place in head and neck cancer. There are currently some 214,000 affected patients in the USA, with approximately 40,000 new cases per annum. An oncolytic approach using OncoVEX technology has a number of potential advantages.