UPDATE 2-Oxford BioMedica looking at acquisitions, CEO goes

(Adds company comments, live share price)

LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Oxford Biomedica Plc (OXB.L: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) said its chief executive is to leave after just over a month in charge and it was seeking acquisitions to boost its drug pipeline.

The British biotech company said on Friday CEO Mike McDonald was being replaced by Non-Executive Director John Dawson as acting Chief Executive. It gave no reason for the departure citing an agreement with McDonald.

Analyst Damian McNeela at Panmure Gordon said there had been concerns over McDonald's strategy following a major setback in July when the company's key experimental cancer vaccine TroVax failed a trial in kidney cancer.

"Essentially he said that there wasn't any flexibility in the cost base, so basically (he was) saying 'ok this trial's gone wrong but we're going to carry on burning cash at the same rate', which obviously gave concern to a lot of people," McNeela said.

At 0926 GMT shares had fallen by 14.9 percent to 10 pence. The stock had plummeted as low as 4-1/4p following the July setback.

Chief Business Officer Nick Woolf told Reuters: "Our acting CEO ... is an individual who comes with enormous experience in the field of business development and M&A.

"He will be leading this review of our activities to see how we can maximise the value of our pipeline, which means looking at business development opportunities as well as evaluating external opportunities that might provide further drivers of growth," Woolf said.

Regarding the external opportunities, Woolf said: "I'm talking about acquisitions, predominantly ... where we would bring in new products and technology to complement our own."

Earlier Oxford Biomedica reported a first half-net loss of 1.1 million pounds ($2 million) against a 9.3 million loss at the same time last year. It said its cash position was 27 million pounds compared with 42.5 million last year.

Earlier this month, the company spurned a takeover approach from U.S.-based Genethera Inc (GTHR.PK: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz), saying the approach was not credible. (Reporting by Ben Deighton; Editing by David Holmes)