SHARES in Oxford Biomedica shot up almost 20 per cent, following a report in the Mail on Sunday that hopes were growing of a takeover bid from French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi Aventis.
A spokesperson for Biomedica, Mary-Jane Johnson, said: "There is no bid on the table and no announcement is being made."
Last year, Biomedica signed a £350m with the French company, which is developing and commercialising Biomedica's groundbreaking cancer treatment, TroVax, which uses a horse virus to introduce genes to boost the body's immune system to fight cancer.
It has been evaluated in clinical trials involving more than 180 patients with various forms of cancer, but has yet to pass final tests.
Oxford BioMedica will receive an initial payment of £20m and further near-term payments of £16m if an ongoing trial wth kidney cancer patients - to be co-funded by the two companies - is successful.
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