Oxford Biomedica Share Discussion Threads

[icejelly] 20/5/2022 12:32

It went up, then down, up, down, up, down, down, ...

[harry s truman] 20/5/2022 10:43

Just for interest but I counted them and it's 60 machine trades out of the 90 total.

[harry s truman] 20/5/2022 10:40

All 90 trades so far today (newest first). So the trade value and type here, with algo being an automated computer trade.

Type Value
P £60.58
P ALGO £1,333.20
P ALGO £121.20
P ALGO £777.70
P ALGO £30.30
P ALGO £530.25
P ALGO £1,262.50
P ALGO £1,300.42
P ALGO £1,265.00
P ALGO £987.84
P ALGO £101.00
P ALGO £989.80
P ALGO £531.30
P £287.85
P ALGO £283.36
P £819.72
P ALGO £1,265.00
P ALGO £547.56
P ALGO £5,364.06
P ALGO £3,584.49
P ALGO £1,799.85
P ALGO £706.12
P ALGO £5.08
P ALGO £822.96
P ALGO £66.17
P ALGO £763.50
P ALGO £167.97
P ALGO £213.78
P ALGO £417.38
P ALGO £86.53
P ALGO £336.60
P ALGO £127.50
P ALGO £66.30
P ALGO £5.10
P ALGO £438.60
P £3,668.98
P £2,176.83
P £2,279.06
P ALGO £824.58
P ALGO £1,723.80
P ALGO £183.60
P ALGO £335.28
P ALGO £919.48
P ALGO £477.52
P £4,999.07
P £4,963.70
P £487.67
P RPRI £5,080.00
P RPRI £5,709.92
P £1,017.00
P ALGO £360.68
P ALGO £502.92
P £2,542.70
P £1,577.88
P ALGO £1,018.00
P ALGO £147.90
P ALGO £45.90
P ALGO £1,229.10
P £592.76
P £3,512.32
P £195.32
P ALGO £5,033.35
P ALGO £1,926.47
P ALGO £1,277.50
P £8,223.23
P £17,099.89
P £4,125.42
P £25,929.24
P ALGO £220.16
P ALGO £1,059.84
P £534.53
P £2,377.76
P £1,727.47
P ALGO £126.75
P £505.00
P ALGO £121.20
P ALGO £462.76
P £507.02
NLIQ P £4.98
P £13,168.10
P ALGO £1,340.97
P ALGO £239.28
P £365.73
P ALGO £446.78
P ALGO £1,780.62
P ALGO £1,262.53
P ALGO £2,142.78
P £4,999.68
P ALGO £317.52
P ALGO £748.88

[harry s truman] 19/5/2022 10:58

I've not been a great fan of the television news for a while now, and to be absolutely honest I stopped watching it completely when the hype was at its height during the pandemic. That was like the straw breaking the camel's back for me. Sometimes these days I catch the odd story, but it's not something I ever intentionally watch.

I do read the papers though, which post pandemic are now allowing more than one opinion again. I think inflation (not the war) is the issue of our time. Officially 9% and the highest since the 80's, but the trouble here is we all know that even that 9% figure is fudged.

So for anybody on our BB who can afford to play about with spare money in shares it's all fine. Life costs 10%+ more and we just eat it as a minor inconvenience. For a good half of the country it's not so great, which means at best cutting their cloth to suit and at worst doing without.

Apologies in advance if I'm stepping on anybody's toes here, but clapping to be paid to stay at home on a secure income was a completely different pandemic to hourly paid manual workers who weren't. There were people who pointed out that after printing money like that then the "new normal" could only ever be built back worse (not better) and would take a very long time, but of course they were all labelled granny killers. Hindsight eh?

Anyway, wasn't it 450bn they printed for the pandemic? Interesting amount of money to throw at an economy whilst waiting to see what happens. Deciding to leave all our natural resources in the floor and buy other people's energy at the market price because in this new age it helps us control the weather was possibly not the greatest strategy with hindsight either.

What can you do? As that wise man of our BB used to say, it is what it is.

At the moment I'm reading the odd piece about the hedge fund zillionaire who called the last crash correctly explaining that we are doomed, whilst at the same time reading that Warren Buffet is hitting the market with all his available wealth (many tens of billions) because to his mind opportunities like this are once in a lifetime (and he's had a long lifetime).

Two different opinions there from two very smart and experienced people.

You see lots of comments from people who are in cash, but what is cash going to do for you in this economy? There's nowhere safe which guarantees a return which will keep pace with inflation and in that I'm including property, because anyone of a certain age here will remember negative equity being "normal" for a very long time. Immigration might help with that one this time, but there are no guarantees.

Amongst other things I own some Scancell (I know others here do too) and was heartened by the market reaction to them entering their clinical trial phase recently, but they have since drifted back again too. People simply realising cash to take out of the market again there I'm guessing.

I still believe that OXB will be trying their very best to close a deal / release news before the H1 cut-off at the end of June. Any news would definitely help us because any news is an opportunity to remind the market that the AZ vaccine wasn't our main business and that the end of the pandemic was expected and isn't the end of the world for us.

In the background (the category of unknown unknowns if you like) I'm always mulling over the recent hints that both Serum and Novartis publicly aim to expand into the business area which we currently occupy a segment of. Both organisations could afford to take OXB and both would be saved a lot of time and work by paying a premium to get there (essentially the same argument forwarded by Stuart to explain our purchase of Homology).

I'm sure we all remember that, but basically we could have built our own building, developed the tech, recruited and trained news staff, but how long would it have taken? (Time of course being not just lost opportunity, but also cash burned).

To the market at the moment it may well look like Homology did best, in that they got quite a lot of non-dilutive cash in return for something in which they maintain a minority interest.

From our point of view though, Homology have sold the family silver in exchange for working cash which they will have burnt in 3 years. We have 80% of their manufacturing facility, we have IP which they now licence rather than owning and we have 125 trained and experienced staff. Perhaps more importantly than anything else, if you look on the "what we can do" page of OXB's website, then we are ready for customers now - and of course Roch told us that there will be 2 this year.

So Homology got a lifeline of non-dilutive cash which they will burn on their path in trying to get their drugs to market (in which I hope they succeed).

We have had the dilution as shareholders but of course also now own a smaller part of a bigger company, with a new facility in America, so something there to be said for both.

It a very personal thing, but I always try to look upon what I actually own and I can see that I own a tiny percentage in all the things that OXB do very well. It's one of the reasons that I've always shied away from stuff like crypto, as it's never been clear to me what these coins are actually worth or what I would own.

My previous theory on OXB's daily volume didn't hold up to peer review, but it still seems to me that the massive daily volumes (following the AZ vaccine story which overshadowed the results) are now behind us and I see that as a good sign that those intending to sell / forced to sell have finished now.

The reverse side of that of course though is that with low volumes then relatively small trades send the price all-over the place.

For all those who have decided to wait it out, then that's where are now - we've bought our tickets and are all on the same bus.

My honest opinion (obviously as a holder) is that whilst long term OXB is a great buy as a major player in the viral vector market, short term nobody knows and of course there is the wildcard here that a bigger player in our industry will share Mr Buffett's view that current market prices are a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Pick your own odds on any of that.

[harry s truman] 18/5/2022 15:47

To be honest squids I was thinking that I'd managed to curse that idea myself. But the volume this morning wasn't low, it was tiny. I have no good explanation for that.

[squidsgone] 18/5/2022 15:27

H,The low volume equals blue equation seems to be struggling today.

[harry s truman] 18/5/2022 00:07

Quick thought for the night:- I've been reading a few stories of late about Novartis wanting to offload their Grimsby plant. For those who don't know or have never visited the Eastern Riviera of the UK, then it's a massive conventional drug plant on the banks of the Humber.

Pharmaceuticals is obviously a business and like any other business there are goals and aims which change with time and they have decided that what they do there isn't core for them any more, so fair enough.

With that in the back of my mind today I was reading this piece tonight about Novartis’ Global Biotech Cooperations Unit (something I had never previously heard of) which is basically the internal CMO / CDMO division of Novartis, which they do very much want to grow.



It's quite an interesting read, even though the rotters don't give us a mention with regard to Kymriah, the part which caught my eye most was the summing up (copied below) -

(quote)

Looking ahead, Novartis’ Global Biotech Cooperations unit aims to strike more partnerships, especially in the biotech and cell and gene therapy market, the executive said. Meanwhile, the company will weigh further investments in production where demand dictates. It’s currently focusing on “hot topic” areas like viral vectors, DNA, RNA and antibody-drug conjugates.

“The strategy of this organization is to deliver high quality medicines on time, every time, safely and efficiently,” Gerdenitsch said. “We really strive to become one of the top manufacturers of innovative and generic medicines in the industry.”

(unquote)

Did anybody spot the same thing? i.e. "Meanwhile, the company will weigh further investments in production where demand dictates. It’s currently focusing on “hot topic” areas like viral vectors...". I wonder where they could find some of those and the facilities to manufacture them?

As with all these things it's down to my interpretation as a holder, but if this business from the OXB annual report (about the confidential commercial partner for our very latest CAR-T tech) is actually Novartis (and who else could it realistically be?) then why would they look any further for the other aims?

Just a thought. Make of it what you will.

[freddie ferret] 17/5/2022 14:31

Dilution has always been the problem with this company. Rights issues, open offers, placings, and the like.

If it was not for the history I might be tempted atm.

[harry s truman] 17/5/2022 11:54

I realise that I've mentioned this a lot before, but when it's low volume (23k so far today), we always seem to creep up quite nicely.

Big volume days seem to hold us down. Every time I note a low volume day I hope it marks the end of the rush for the door after the vaccine press stories, but then it goes on.

I'm pretty sure that 6 weeks on Thursday is the last day of H1 and I'm absolutely certain that come the end of August OXB won't want to read the interim results based on this period with nothing new in H1 to talk about other than Homology and the agreement with Cabaletta Bio, both of which they have already talked about at length.

I expect that they will be working very hard to get something closed (and hopefully multiple somethings) before the end of June.

[harry s truman] 16/5/2022 20:03

Full text and presentation details

H - Clinical Translation of Gene and Cell Therapies -> Vector Product Engineering, Development or Manufacturing

1167: Lentiviral Vector Producer Cell Line Generation for Chimeric Antigen Receptor (CAR) T Cell Therapies

Type: Poster Session

Poster Board Number: W-293
Presentation Details
Session Title: Vector Product Engineering, Development or Manufacturing III
Location: Hall D
Start Time: 5/18/2022 17:30
End Time: 5/18/2022 18:30

The market approval of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapies together with the continuous emerging number of CAR-based ex-vivo and in-vivo targeted products has created a huge demand for the supply of large quantities of high-quality grade lentiviral vectors (LV). Production of LV using producer cell lines (PCLs) is desirable due to reduced costs, ability to scale to large volumes, improved batch consistency and increased streamlined production process when compared to LV produced by the standard transient transfection manufacturing process. However, the development of PCL LV-CAR cells lines has been extremely challenging as it was found that constitutive expression of the CAR molecules can have a detrimental effect on the survival of PCLs. One solution would be to repress the CAR expression in the stable cell line using technology such as the TRiP systemTM. Extensive work has been performed to improve the efficiency of transgene repression in the PCLs using modified LV genomes and an improved version of the TRiP systemTM. In parallel, Oxford biomedica has successfully implemented a cell line development platform that enables the generation of PCLs directly in suspension, in accelerated timelines. In combination, these technologies have enabled the successful generation of highly promising suspension PCL LV-CAR clones. In brief, suspension PCL LV-CAR pools of cells were generated and from these more than 200 PCL clones were isolated and evaluated for LV production at high-throughput scale. From these clones the best 60 were expanded and after multiple rounds of screening, the two best suspension clone candidates were selected for further screening and characterisation. These resulting PCL LV-CAR clones were shown to be capable of producing high titre LV-CAR at a larger scale. In summary, the integration of Oxford biomedica technologies has led to the identification of suspension PCLs that are capable of producing high titre LV-CAR in significantly accelerated cell line development timelines. Given that PCL LV-CARs are more advantageous, for large-scale production than current processes, it is anticipated that this platform technology will support increased yields at reduced cost with the ultimate aim of enabling more patients to be treated with these life changing gene therapies.

Joana S. Boura, Radmila Todoric, Jordan Wright, Helen Maunder, Laura J. E. Pearson, Emma Burton, Sara Ferluga, Daniel C. Farley, Kyriacos A. Mitrophanous, Nicholas G. Clarkson, Hannah J. Stewart

Oxford Biomedica, Oxford, United Kingdom
J.S. Boura: None.

[harry s truman] 16/5/2022 20:03

Full text and presentation details

H - Clinical Translation of Gene and Cell Therapies -> Vector Product Engineering, Development or Manufacturing

404: Process C: Next Generation Lentiviral Vector Manufacturing Process; Greater Productivity and Enhanced Purity

Type: Poster Session

Poster Board Number: M-285
Presentation Details
Session Title: Vector Product Engineering, Development or Manufacturing I
Location: Hall D
Start Time: 5/16/2022 17:30
End Time: 5/16/2022 18:30

The number of exciting and high-profile products based on gene and cell therapy has increased dramatically over the past few years. For over 25 years, Oxford Biomedica (OXB) has been a pioneer in the development of products and innovative technologies based on lentiviral vectors, with the company being responsible for several firsts in clinical studies based on these vectors. OXB has used this broad CMC, clinical and regulatory experience and know-how to facilitate development of a scalable, serum-free suspension manufacturing process utilising stirred tank bioreactors, both for the company’s pipeline products and those of our strategic partners. With the rising demand for vector product throughout the industry as it matures, and a push to further improve product quality, even relatively recent technologies can struggle to keep pace with the expansion of therapies from ultra-rare to larger indications. This continuous trend drives the need for further innovation in vector production platforms as the success of the industry relies upon consistently generating sufficient vector quantities with the desired purity and potency. To meet the forecast on vector demand for gene and cell therapies, OXB has recently introduced a next generation lentiviral manufacturing process incorporating innovative process modifications which simultaneously enhance lentiviral process yields and improve vector quality attributes. Designated “Process C”, this new process takes advantages of advances in perfusion technology to support vector production at higher cell densities than have been associated with traditional batch and fed batch production approaches for lentiviral vectors, allowing for significant process intensification without the need for increased bioreactor volume. Harvesting of lentiviral particles secreted into the bioreactor milieu via continuous perfusion also allows stabilisation of generated vector at lower temperatures, leading to improved preservation of functional lentivirus in the final product. Importantly, Process C adopts a plug and play approach facilitating incorporation of small molecule enhancers, some of which have already been identified by OXB. For example, incorporation of U1 (RNA based enhancer) during vector production using Process C led to increased cell-specific productivity. Overall, process yield improvements ranging from 2 to 10 fold have been demonstrated for a range of therapeutic lentiviral vectors with process scalability demonstrated in stirred tank bioreactors up to 200 L in GMP. In addition to the benefits of improved upstream yield, process C also incorporates an improved downstream processing approach to specifically target unwanted protein:DNA complexes implicated in vector aggregation. This combined approach has minimised process losses across sterile filtration process steps and has enabled more efficient removal of critical process impurities including plasmid and cellular DNA. Our new manufacturing platform offers significant benefits for clinical production of lentiviral vectors and will further enable OXB to support the continuing global demand for high quality gene and cell therapy products.

Lee Davies, Carol Knevelman, Oliver Goodyear, Ciaran Lamont, Kirstie Pemberton, Maria Kapanidou, George Pamenter, Kyriacos Mitrophanous, James Miskin

Oxford Biomedica (UK) Ltd, Oxford, United Kingdom
L. Davies: None.

[harry s truman] 16/5/2022 14:12

That tweet has to be the Cystic Fibrosis work surely Marcus?

[marcusl2] 16/5/2022 13:40

We are presenting a number of posters today at #ASGCT22, from improvements in the TRiP systemTM to next generation #LentiviralVector manufacturing.
📍 Hall D
🗓️16 May 5.30-6.30pm ET
hxxps://annualmeeting.asgct.org

[marcusl2] 16/5/2022 13:40

Oxford Biomedica
@OxfordBiomedica
·
2h
Today at #ASGCT22, head to room 206 to discover more about new pseudotypes for #LentiviralVectors which are being developed to improve efficiency of targeting in the human lung.
Presented by Rosie Munday, postdoctoral research scientist
@RDMOxford
& #OXB hxxps://annualmeeting.asgct.org

[harry s truman] 16/5/2022 12:32

And hopefully will bring in a lot of new customers (was the bit I was hoping to see you tag on the end).

Thanks anyway :)

[plutonian] 16/5/2022 11:24

Thanks, Harry, I am no expert in this field, but it seems to say we have a platform for producing higher quality vectors, at higher titre and it is very scalable. It appears the platform works across a number of AAV serotypes and hence can target various tissue types.

[harry s truman] 16/5/2022 10:17

If you're out there Plutonian ;)

[harry s truman] 16/5/2022 10:10

Just a reminder of the recent news that the US arm of OXB is presenting tomorrow.

Press release

06/05/2022

Oxford Biomedica Solutions announces novel Dual Plasmid Transfection System, and has demonstrated suspension bioreactor titers above E15 vg/L, and chromatography purification achieving 90% fully in-tact vector

Bedford, Massachusetts - May 6, 2022: Oxford Biomedica Solutions, LLC. (“Oxford Biomedica Solutions”), a new high-performing, full scope AAV manufacturing and innovation business, now offering its ‘Plug & Play’ Platform that has successfully delivered four GMP programs and five Investigational New Drug submissions. Oxford Biomedica Solutions is announcing today that it will be sharing novel and critical Platform data, and the new Dual Plasmid Solution, at the upcoming ASGCT annual meeting, May 16-19, Washington D.C.

The gene therapy space continues to need higher performing manufacturing processes, and more importantly, higher quality vector. The Oxford Biomedica Solutions team have been innovating to develop the capability to deliver both quantity and quality.

Tim Kelly, CEO of Oxford Biomedica Solutions said “This new Dual Plasmid Solution is really a game changer for Companies who are looking for high quality vector and performance. We are now able to achieve 2E17 vector genomes in a single 500L drug substance lot, which will also allow access to much larger indications.”

Poster presentation details for the event:
Tuesday May 17 from 5:30-6:30 pm
Poster board number Tu-267
Abstract number 762

Contact:
Oxford Biomedica Solutions: [e-mail]
Tim Kelly, Chief Executive Officer: [e-mail]

About Oxford Biomedica Solutions
Oxford Biomedica Solutions is a high-performing, full scope AAV manufacturing and innovation business based near Boston, Massachusetts, US.

The newly formed company has approximately 125 technical operation employees based at its state-of-the-art AAV manufacturing facility with approximately 25,000 sq. ft of GMP space. It operates three 500L bioreactors using a proprietary serum-free suspension process for clinical manufacturing via a proprietary ‘plug and play’ platform. The GMP experience includes 45 successful 500L lots, and the production process has proven scalability to 2000L in the high-quality process development laboratories

Oxford Biomedica Solutions is owned by Oxford Biomedica plc together with Homology Medicines Inc.

[harry s truman] 13/5/2022 19:38

I don't know if you spotted it catch, but quite a while ago now steeplejack made a point to the effect that if the crypto market tanked then people exposed to that would have to sell whatever they could to make ends meet. It wasn't exactly those words, but that was the gist of it I think.

I read 2 stories in the FT today which I realise are only opinions, but it wouldn't have been great reading for me if I owned a piece of the crypto market. It made me wonder just how many holders of biotech shares in general have recently been forced to sell shares which they would have preferred to keep in order to meet obligations elsewhere?

I'm not going to pretend that I'm delighted with events as I'm plainly not. I'm also not going to celebrate closing at £5 today when we were over 3x that recently, but it is a tiny step in the right direction and once we have made our decision then there's no point in going over the what ifs.

If the Boston move works out, and I couldn't give you odds on that but OXB will have done a lot of due diligence and seem very confident, then they are golden. How can they go wrong in a booming vector market when surrounded by customers?

Similarly with the loan, then I don't particularly like the loan and I like the idea of it giving more money to the money lenders at Oaktree even less, but in absolute terms OXB didn't need the loan. In the real world and as directors of a Plc they can't sail too close to the wind and so need a buffer which is going to cost us quite a few millions, but hopefully one which pays multiples of that back in the long term.

I'm sure you see what I'm getting at here, but:-

Incoming:-

£109m cash at 31st December + whatever they have banked since.
£76.8m nett proceeds from placing of new shares
£64m full credit facility from Oaktree

Meaning rough minimum £250m available to OXB post placing, but probably much more.

Outgoings:-

£97m cost to buy 80% of Homology manufacturing including IP, staff etc.
£37m working cash injection for the 3 years until profitability (including guaranteed work for OXB)
£70m (£64m + 8%) to pay back the Oaktree loan (my guess there)

So, ignoring whatever they earn this year, and any up front payments from deals they might sign, that still leaves something like £45 million for the refurbishment / expansion work in existing labs / offices which they talked about in the webcast.

Once Oaktree have been repaid then things will immediately look better, but presumably that's a one year term? Oaktree are such a class act that it's likely to be much more expensive to repay early, but you already know what I think of them.

Stuart has told us that this year's results will be worse than 2021 but better than 2020 which really wasn't a bad year for us.

To get back to my old chestnut, good news flow and happy days for us long term, but I think someone will come along before then. Someone with enough cash to make the major shareholders say "that will do", and at that point we all move on.

[catch007] 13/5/2022 18:10

Harry; Excellent points regarding the major holders holding steady throughout the share price fall. The context is really the overall reduction in value of the biotech market place which has seen wholesale carnage. Whilst I was underwhelmed by the strategic takeover & fund raise the core business and pipeline remains intact. I see little value in jumping ship and then watch it sail away at pace so my patience will remain as the biotech cycle will turn positive again in time.

[harry s truman] 13/5/2022 15:16

Well, OXB doing a bit of PR (admittedly only on twitter, but it's the thought that counts) and a brief flirtation with 500p, it's really not been too bad for Friday the 13th has it?

[bountyhunter] 13/5/2022 12:56

Ignore the trash as always.