By Maggie Hartford Gene therapy company Oxford Biomedica has paid 180,000 for the rights to a gene that could help people with spinal injuries or nerve damage.

Biomedica, based at Oxford Science Park, has bought the gene from King's College, London, in the hope that it can be used to repair nerves of patients with spinal injuries, diabetes or disease of the blood vessels. Research has shown that it can restore the ability of nerve cells to grow after injury.

Biomedica's Lentivector technology would be used to deliver the gene to the damaged part of the body.