http://oxfordpharmascience.com/


Oxford Pharmascience is a drug development company that re-develops approved drugs to make them better, safer and easier to take.

Oxford Pharmascience is using its proprietary oral drug delivery technologies to develop improved formulations of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and statins for global markets.

The Company's risk-diversified pipeline of prescription and OTC medicines is focused on cardiovascular disease and pain relief indications. Since the products incorporate previously approved drugs, this reduces risk and results in a simplified drug development regulatory pathway allowing less expensive development programs and faster access to market.

The Company has also commercialized calcium/vitamin D chews that taste better and dissolve faster than currently available regular formats. These products are now marketed in the UK, Middle East and Brazil.

Oxford Pharmascience is located in the UK and is led by a highly experienced management team that directs and manages the outsourcing of its development; pre-clinical and clinical programs; and manufacturing to a trusted network of partners and suppliers.

The Company commercializes its portfolio of product opportunities through out-licensing to leading pharmaceutical companies worldwide. Currently the Company has partnerships with Aché Laboratories and Bayer.

Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) was established by a team of entrepreneurs in 2008 and is a publicly listed company on London's Alternative Investment Market (AIM), with a strong blue chip investor base.

Holding(s) in Company

Invesco Limited Above 29%.Another 94 million shares.



http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4699749

Oxford Pharmascience wins innovation award
By Proactive Investors November 11 2013, 10:19am Oxford Pharmascience wins innovation award

Drug delivery specialist Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) has won an award for innovation.

The Innovation Award 2013 was made by Aché Laboratórios, OXP’s partner in Brazil, and it recognises the success of the Inellare product, which was launched by the partners last year.

Inellare is growing strongly with both companies working in close partnership to support a growing pipeline of products under the brand, Oxford Pharmascience (OXP) said.

Aché Laboratórios has a strong presence in Brazil, which is one of the world’s most dynamic, emerging pharmaceutical markets, according to OXP.

"We are delighted to be recognised as the most innovative supplier by our partner Aché, one of the largest emerging markets pharmaceutical companies,” OXP’s chief technology officer Marcelo Bravo said.

“This demonstrates our business model of developing and licensing innovative best-in-class products to major pharmaceutical companies and validates our ability to deliver.

“We look forward to continuing to work with Aché Laboratorios to deliver innovation in Brazil and the rest of South America".

Oxford Pharmascience welcomes new guidelines on statins
StockMarketWire.com
Oxford Pharmascience has welcomed new US guideline which urge wider use of statins to prevent heart attacks and strokes.

The guidelines - which were issued by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology - use a new formula for estimating someone's risk of stroke or heart attack that includes many factors besides cholesterol which is the main focus currently.

They are the first new guidelines in a decade for preventing heart attacks and strokes which call for twice as many Americans - one-third of all adults - to consider taking cholesterol-lowering statin drugs.

Oxford Pharmascience chief executive Nigel Theobald said: "This is fantastic news for our Safestat programme which is developing effective lower dose versions of statins which consequently will reduce a lot of the associated side effects from taking these drugs.

"Statins are already one of the world's largest drug categories and these new guidelines in effect double the market potential for safestat in the USA overnight. We totally support these new guidelines and look forward to seeing how other countries react to these changes."





At 2:21pm: (LON:OXP) Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC share price was +0.05p at 4.05p


Story provided by StockMarketWire.com

Oxford Pharmascience heartened by new US cholesterol guidelines
By John Harrington November 13 2013, 3:05pm The new guidelines also take aim at strokes, not just heart attacks and set a lower threshold for using medicines to reduce risk.The new guidelines also take aim at strokes, not just heart attacks and set a lower threshold for using medicines to reduce risk.

New guidelines in the US on the use of cholesterol-lowering drugs has been hailed as “fantastic news” for Oxford Pharmascience’s (LON:OXP) Safestat programme.

Oxford Pharma, which specialises in reformulating drugs to make them more palatable, and/or less likely to cause unpleasant side effects, said the new directives will lead to a significant increase in the number of US patients that could be prescribed statins in order to lower cholesterol.

Under the current advice, statins are recommended for those who have total cholesterol over 200 and LDL, or "bad cholesterol", of over 100, but the new recommendations, issued by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology, place much less emphasis on setting numerical cholesterol-lowering targets for patients.

The advice introduces a new formula for calculating a patient's risk of heart disease based on such factors as age, gender and race, instead of high cholesterol levels alone.

Instead of aiming for a specific level of cholesterol, using whatever drugs get a patient to that level, the advice stresses the use of statins, such as simvastatin and atorvastatin, and identifies four groups of people they help the most.

"We're going to give statins to those who are the most likely to benefit,” said Dr Neil Stone, the Northwestern University doctor who headed the cholesterol guideline panel.

What this means, according to Oxford Pharma’s statement, is that 33mln Americans would meet the new threshold to consider taking a statin, with 44% of adult men and 22% of adult women likely to meet the qualification criteria, whereas under the current guidelines, statins are recommended for only about 15% of adults.

"This is fantastic news for our Safestat programme which is developing effective lower dose versions of statins which consequently will reduce a lot of the associated side effects from taking these drugs,” said Nigel Theobald, chief executive officer of Oxford Pharma.

“Statins are already one of the world's largest drug categories and these new guidelines in effect double the market potential for Safestat in the USA overnight. We totally support these new guidelines and look forward to seeing how other countries react to these changes," Theobald added.

While Oxford Pharma welcomed the new directives, Savvas Neophytou, an analyst at Panmure Gordon, suggested the sales people at drugs giant AstraZeneca (LON:AZN) might be suffering a few palpitations at the news and the effects it will have on its big money-spinning cholesterol-lowering drug, Crestor.

“Crestor’s USP [unique selling point] had been its efficacy, so treating to specific targets was a key driver for switching to more efficacious statins if cheaper generics did not work.

“This will no longer be the case. Hence there is no significant driver for adoption. More patients will start (and remain) on cheaper generic products such as atorvastatin (generic copy of Lipitor),” Neophytou predicted.

Oxford Pharmascience's statin opportunity broadens
By John Harrington November 14 2013, 11:51am New US guidelines support OXP's Safestat programmeNew US guidelines support OXP's Safestat programme

The already massive market for Oxford Pharmascience’s (LON:OXP) Safestat formulations of cholesterol-lowering drugs has become even bigger following new US guidelines on prescriptions, N+1 Singer said.

The American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology released new guidelines on Tuesday recommending the use of statin therapy for patients across four major groups at risk of a heart attack, stroke or major cardiovascular event.

Previously, the guidance was fixated on numerical values of cholesterol levels and the concomitant risk of heart attacks.

“The new guidelines offer a greater target market for Safestat with around 44% of men and 22% of women in the US meeting the new threshold for statin consideration compared to the current 15%,” the broker notes.

The Safestat programme is focused on developing lower dose versions of statins – drugs prescribed to lower cholesterol levels – that deliver the same beneficial effects as stronger versions. The big advantage to the lower dose versions is the significantly reduced levels of unwelcome side effects or, indeed, the complete absence of side effects for some recipients.

According to a survey conducted by web site www.statinusage.com, nearly three-quarters of new users stop taking their statins by the end of the first year of use. Of those, 62% cite side effects as the reason for doing so.

So, Oxford Pharma’s formulation of the two most popular generic cholesterol-lowering drugs, Atorvastatin and Simvastatin, would already widen the universe of potential statin-takers; the new US guidelines widen it further.

“The new guidelines are a positive for Oxford Pharmascience given the expanding target market. The group has completed formulation development for its Safestat™ formulations of atorvastatin and simvastatin (two leading cholesterol-lowering medication) with clinical trials expected to commence in 2014,” N+1 Singer said.

The change in US guidelines is the second bit of good news this week for Oxford Pharma.

“The group was also awarded the Innovation Award 2013 by Aché Laboratόrios (the group’s partner in Brazil) on Tuesday, validating the group’s capabilities,” N+1 Singer noted.

“We remain upbeat about the group and its future prospects,” the broker concluded.

Shares in Oxford Pharma, which started the year at 2.19p, were up 0.5% to 4.02p in mid-morning trading.

Millions more Britons could be put on statins to cut risk of heart attacks and strokes after US study says a third of adults should take them
•New advice tells doctor's they should consider a patient's lifetime risk
•British experts are preparing two updated sets of guidelines on statin use
•But number of people taking the drugs is likely to increase as much as in US


By Sophie Borland

PUBLISHED:00:23, 14 November 2013| UPDATED:08:14, 14 November 2013
The new advice tells doctors to consider a patient’s lifetime risk and may result in a doubling of prescriptions.

It will be closely monitored by British experts who are preparing two updated sets of guidelines on statin use.

But the number of people taking the drugs in the UK is unlikely to increase by as much as in the States.


Dr David Wald, consultant cardiologist at Barts and the London Hospital, said: ‘The new guidelines widen access to statin treatment.

‘This recognises the effectiveness of statins in reducing the risk of heart attacks and strokes, their safety and the availability of lower-cost generic statins, which makes prevention more affordable.

‘It is a sensible step forward and it would be sensible for Britain to follow by introducing policies that simplify as well as broaden access to statin treatment.’




Eight million Britons take statins, up from five million a decade ago.

But experts believe many more should be on them. Heart disease – which includes heart attacks and strokes – claims 82,000 lives annually.

Last year, Oxford researchers claimed 2,000 lives could be saved annually if they were prescribed more widely.

At present, GPs and cardiologists decide whether to prescribe statins mainly by looking at a patient’s cholesterol level – the fatty deposits in blood that clog arteries.

But the guidance issued in America yesterday urges doctors to consider patients’ overall risk of heart attacks and strokes based on their age, whether they smoke, their weight and their gender.

That may lead to more women being offered the drugs because they are more likely to have strokes than men.

Statins are recommended for 15 per cent of adults in the US, but if doctors follow the guidelines they would be prescribed to 30 per cent – 22 per cent of women and 44 per cent of men.

Dr Mike Knapton, associate medical director at the British Heart Foundation, said experts drawing up the guidelines for the NHS would be looking closely at the US recommendations, drawn up by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.

But he said it was too early to say how many more patients here would take statins as a result.

He said: ‘I don’t know what effect we will see but my suspicion is it will increase.

‘But I’d be very surprised if it led to a doubling in the numbers of patients.’

Experts from the Joint British Societies of Guidelines are due to publish recommendations for GPs and cardiologists on how they should prescribe statins.

In July next year, the NHS rationing watchdog, NICE, will produce further guidance setting out when doctors should use them.

Both are expected to tell doctors to consider patients whole-life risk of heart attacks and strokes – as in the US guidelines – rather than simply focusing on cholesterol levels.

Last year there were 61million prescriptions in England for statins, which cost as little as £16 for a 12-month course.

They work by reducing the cholesterol in the arteries, and are normally given to patients with high cholesterol following a heart attack, stroke or bypass.


PRESCRIPTIONS FOR HEART AND STROKE DRUG SOARING



Around one million prescriptions for statins are written each week, compared with just a few thousand in 1981.


Statins make up nearly a fifth of all drugs prescribed for heart and circulatory disease in England.


The drugs reduce blood levels of cholesterol, which can build up inside arteries, damaging them and raising the risk of heart disease and stroke.


They may also protect against other health problems, including blood clots and eye disorders, by maintaining a healthy blood supply to the brain.


The most serious adverse reaction is myopathy in about one in 1,000 patients, which can result in muscle pain and weakness.

Ache Sugar Free Launch

RNS


RNS Number : 8926T

Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC

26 November 2013




Oxford Pharmascience Group plc



("Oxford Pharmascience" or "the Company")

Aché launches new sugar free version of Inellare



Oxford Pharmascience (AIM: OXP), the specialty pharmaceutical company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, confirms that its partner in Brazil, Aché Pharmaceuticos (Aché) has launched a new sugar free version of its calcium and vitamin D chew marketed under the brand name Inellare.

Nigel Theobald, CEO of Oxford Pharmascience commented

"Our relationship with Aché continues to grow from strength to strength and Aché's association with and seal of approval from ANAD (National Association of Diabetes Care) shows how seriously they are marketing our product. We could not hope for a better partner in Brazil"







For further information:



Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc

Nigel Theobald, Chief Executive +44 1865 854874



N+1 Singer

Shaun Dobson/Jenny Wyllie +44 20 7496 3000





About Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc



Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc uses a range of proprietary technology platforms to re-develop existing medicines to make them better, safer or easier to take. The Company does not manufacture or sell its own pharmaceutical products direct to consumers but instead seeks to license its technologies and dossiers to a network of partners, mainly leading pharmaceutical companies with Rx (prescription) and OTC (Over the Counter) branded portfolios.



Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc focuses on existing medicines that are proven to be safe and effective but nevertheless still have associated issues and side effects often affecting compliance. By working with such medicines the Company is able to develop new innovative products for a fraction of the cost, in much quicker timescales and without the high risk of failure associated with developing new drugs.

UPDATE - Oxford Pharmascience sweet on Brazilian partner
By John Harrington November 26 2013, 1:27pm



Oxford Pharma has a long history of putting the lie to the old adage that medicine has to taste bad in order to be effectiveOxford Pharma has a long history of putting the lie to the old adage that medicine has to taste bad in order to be effective

---ADDS BROKER COMMENT---

Oxford Pharmascience's (LON:OXP) partner in Brazil, Aché Pharmaceuticos, has launched a new sugar-free version of its calcium and vitamin D chew.

The UK firm, which specialises in reformulating medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, said the chew would be marketed under the brand name Inellare.

"Our relationship with Aché continues to grow from strength to strength and Aché's association with and seal of approval from ANAD (National Association of Diabetes Care) shows how seriously they are marketing our product," said Nigel Theobald, Oxford's chief executive officer.

"We could not hope for a better partner in Brazil," Theobald added.

Oxford’s broker N+1 Singer noted that the group is now mainly focused on its non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) and statin programmes, but said it was encouraging that its taste-masking chew business is still trucking along.

“The group was recently awarded the Innovation Award 2013 by Aché, validating the group’s capabilities. We maintain upbeat about the group and believe it is capable of becoming a major player in the re-formulation market,” the broker said.

N+1 Singer said it had expected a sugar-free version of the chew to begin shipping in 2013 so it would be making no change to its earnings estimates

Dipharma to produce commercial scale Ibuprofen
RNS
RNS Number : 6595U
Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC
04 December 2013



Oxford Pharmascience Group plc



("Oxford Pharmascience" or "the Company")

Oxford Pharmascience appoints Dipharma to produce its commercial scale 'Gastric Safe' Ibuprofen



Oxford Pharmascience (AIM: OXP), the specialty pharmaceutical company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, confirms that it has appointed Italian manufacturer Dipharma Francis S.r.l ("Dipharma") to manufacture commercial scale batches of its novel 'Gastric Safe' Ibuprofen.

Under the terms of the appointment commercial scale fully validated batches of OXPzero ibuprofen will be available mid 2014. This will allow the production of final products for our planned pivotal trials in 2015. The intention is to make Dipharma the exclusive supplier of the material for all future products developed using the Company's Ibuprofen and other NSAID products.

Nigel Theobald, CEO of Oxford Pharmascience commented

"This is a fantastic appointment for Oxford Pharmascience and another successful milestone in the commercialisation of products using our novel ibuprofen salt which keeps us firmly on track with our development program for taste masked and 'gastric safe' ibuprofen products.

Dipharma are one of the most respected and successful European producers of API's (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients) with a strong history of working with ibuprofen since the early 80's and having more than two decades of manufacturing experience with ibuprofen lysine salt.

Their expertise in NSAIDs manufacture is a massive boost to us and it demonstrates our ability to work with the best partners. It is vital that we partner with a supplier that has the scale to support the market potential of our novel ibuprofen and other NSAID salts so we can achieve maximum market share in this highly attractive $12bn global NSAIDs market "

SMALL CAP MOVERS: 2013 a good year for FTSE AIM 100 - barring last-minute festive surprises


By Jamie Ashcroft, Proactive Investors

PUBLISHED: 14:55, 6 December 2013 | UPDATED: 14:55, 6 December 2013

Oxford Pharmascience (unchanged today at 4p) is another of the year's top performing biotechs, doubling in value since the start of the year, and this week it landed a manufacturing partner that can handle the drug developer’s ambitious targets for its 'Gastric Safe' Ibuprofen formulation.


The company has appointed Italian manufacturer Dipharma Francis to produce commercial scale batches of the formulation, and if all goes well, there is every chance that the relationship will be extended to encompass other products.





http://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/markets/article-2519427/2013-good-year-FTSE-AIM-100--barring-minute-festive-surprises.html

Press release post MHRA
RNS
RNS Number : 7231V
Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC
17 December 2013

Oxford PharmaScience progresses towards clinical pilot study having taken advantage of the MHRA Scientific Advice Scheme and appoints Quotient Clinical to undertake its early clinical development program





Oxford Pharmascience, the specialty pharmaceutical company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, today announces that it has reviewed its proposed initial clinical development of its GI Safe Ibuprofen Tablet with the MHRA using the Scientific Advice Scheme* and has appointed Quotient Clinical, a well-established business with expertise in supporting clients to optimise oral drug products, as it proceeds through the regulatory process for a clinical pilot study.





The Company recently announced it had completed formulation of "Gastric Safe" 400mg Ibuprofen tablets applying its proprietary OXPzero™ technology and it was proceeding towards clinical pilot testing. A critical milestone for the Company was to seek feedback on the proposed clinical programme via a "Scientific Advice" meeting with the MHRA. Following successful completion of this milestone, the Company has appointed Quotient Clinical as its clinical partner to run the initial pilot study which aims to demonstrate proof of concept of reduced gastrointestinal side effects.





NSAIDs are one of the most widely used classes of drugs, with more than 30 million users worldwide consuming NSAIDs each day and annual sales of $12 billion. NSAIDs however cause well documented GI side effects which include ulcers and bleeding and lead to significant morbidity and mortality in many patients. The company is applying its OXPzero™ technology to develop safer formulations of broadly used NSAIDs such as ibuprofen, naproxen, diclofenac and aspirin.





Marcelo Bravo, Chief Technology Officer of Oxford Pharmascience commented, "Participating in the Scientific Advice programme of the MHRA and appointing Quotient Clinical are key milestones that enables us to proceed with confidence to the next stage. We plan to submit the application for the pilot clinical trial early in the New Year with subject screening to start in Q1".



Mark Egerton, Chief Executive Officer, Quotient Clinical commented "Quotient is delighted to be working with Oxford Pharmascience to investigate the potential for the OXPzero™ technology to deliver products with better safety profiles, which will represent a significant step forward for patients."



*Companies seeking scientific advice should note that any scientific advice given is not legally binding with regard to any future application of the product concerned, neither on the part of MHRA/CHM nor on the company. Furthermore, advice cannot be taken as indicative of any future agreed position

N+1 Singer welcomes Oxford Pharmascience’s new partner

By Jamie Nimmo

December 18 2013, 12:17pm
N+1 says the company continues to make headway in its development


Broker N+1 Singer hailed the appointment of Oxford Pharmascience’s (LON:OXP) new partner, who will undertake its early clinical development programme.

Quotient Clinical has been signed up to run the initial pilot study which aims to prove that Oxford’s ‘GI safe’ ibuprofen tablet has fewer side effects.

N+1 says the company continues to make headway in its development, counting the appointment of Quotient as a key milestone for the group.

Analyst Sheena Berry said: “We believe that partnering with successful and capable partners, like Quotient Clinical and Dipharma (contract manufacturer appointed earlier in the month), will enable the group to become a major player in the re-formulation market.

“We remain upbeat about the group and its future prospects.”

The company recently completed formulation of 400mg GI safe Ibuprofen tablets applying its proprietary OXPzero technology.

It has been consulting with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) under its Scientific Advice scheme to seek guidance on what form the pilot study should take.

Oxford Pharmasciences sees FY revenues up 122%
StockMarketWire.com
Oxford Pharmascience, the specialty pharmaceutical company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, said FY revenue is expected to have grown to about £1.02m, up 122% from £0.46m in 2012.

The adjusted loss (before share based payments, depreciation, amortisation and transaction related costs) is expected to show an increase of about 86% from -£0.81 in 2012 to -£1.51m.

Revenue from sales of its chew products in Brazil continues to grow strongly; the increase in adjusted loss reflects the company's increased expenditure on research and development for its NSAIDs (Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) program for which clinical trials will be starting in Q2 2014.

After two successful fund raisings in 2013 the company has cash resources available amounting to £9.6m

Oxford Pharmascience says 2014 will be about commercial deals

By Jeremy Naylor

January 08 2014, 3:58pm



Nigel Theobald, CEO of Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP), says that after doubling revenues in 2013, the coming year is expected to be as good. Nigel says 2014 will also be about getting out to meet new clients and bringing in commercial deals



http://www.proactiveinvestors.co.uk/companies/stocktube/2456/oxford-pharmascience-says-2014-will-be-about-commercial-deals--2456.html

Oxford Pharmascience nominated for Best Health Care PLC award

By John Harrington

January 16 2014, 10:29am
Helped by the continued growth in sales of its chew products in Brazil, revenue for 2013 rose to around £1.02mln from £0.46mln the year before.
Helped by the continued growth in sales of its chew products in Brazil, revenue for 2013 rose to around £1.02mln from £0.46mln the year before.


Awards season is upon us and Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) has been shortlisted in the Best Health Care PLC category at the 2014 UK Stock Market Awards.

The accolade comes after a terrific year for the company which saw the share price rise 70%, revenues more than double and, perhaps most importantly of all, two successful fund raising exercises that will enable the company to accelerate its development programmes.

Awards nominees have been decided upon by a combination of share price performance, commercial success, balance sheets and financials as well as quality of the management, and Oxford Pharma certainly ticks all of those boxes.

The company is no stranger to awards and industry accolades: in November 2013 it was awarded the Innovation Award 2013 by Aché Laboratórios, its pharma partner in Brazil, while in December 2012 it was featured in Lux Research's "Top Emerging Technology Companies in 2012".

The group is hard at work on its next generation of products that will include gastrointestinal safe formulations that address the enormous market for non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug products.

That's a sizeable trade, 6million @ 4.05p just gone through. Was that you dreamcatcher? :-)

To small doodlebug4. lol

Q&A: Oxford Pharmascience expects strong sales to continue

By Jeremy Naylor

January 17 2014, 9:28am

"We’ve got new markets opening up for that product and hopefully licensing deals coming through this year as well, so every reason why we should continue."


In a transformational year, drug reformulation specialist Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) saw a 122% rise in revenues over the period. Chief executive Nigel Theobald explains why he believes this trend will continue in 2014.

Proactive Investors: Explain a little bit more about what’s been happening and how this rise been achieved?

Nigel Theobald: We’re delighted that we’ve doubled sales again. We’ve been consistently growing our base business. The sales that we’ve achieved are primarily from our original calcium products that we sell in Asia and Brazil. The Brazilian partner, Aché, have just done exceptionally well with the product and that’s been a major contributor to the sales group.

It shows that when we do get products on market we will achieve very strong sales. That’s really what our business is all about.

PI: Can you envisage this sort of sales increase continuing this year?

NT: I think so, yes. The growth rate is strong and we now have two products in Brazil. We have plans for further products with our partner Aché in Brazil. We’ve got new markets opening up for that product and hopefully licensing deals coming through this year as well, so every reason why we should continue.

PI: Looking back to 2013, you had two fundraisings. You’ve got cash on the balance sheet from that – just under £10 million at the moment. How long is this going to last? What is it going to enable you to do this year?

NT: We raised the money to allow us to refocus our strategy on getting products to dossier. In this market it’s very important that you can have dossiers for the product, because a dossier gives you the ability to then make an application to a country to get the marketing approval for that product to then be sold.

We’ve raised enough money now to get two to three products right the way through to dossier, focusing on the NSAIDs [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs] programme. We’ll have one GI-safe [gastrointestinal-safe] Ibuprofen dossier, one or two taste-mask Ibuprofen dossiers. That means we can then license those to the major pharma companies to get their own marketing authorisations in the countries that they’re interested in. That money will last us through to getting at least two to three products through to dossier.

PI: What’s the message then for investors this year and those looking at this thinking, “this is a good opportunity”?

NT: Well last year, 2013, really was all about us building up our capability in the clinical area so that we could get products through to dossier rather than just licensing technology for pharma companies to do it themselves. The funding that we’ve got allows us to get the product through to that dossier and then we licence the dossier. It’s a slight change in the commercial strategy but it puts us in a much stronger position.

2014 then is really going to be about increasing our capability to do the commercial deals. Now having got the clinical programme very firmly established and underway, 2014 is about getting out and talking to the pharma partners and bringing in those commercial deals next year and beyond.

Looks like a weensie little gap up to 4.50p!

44,876,831 trade @ 4.125p early this morning.

Approval for clinical study
RNS
RNS Number : 5181Z
Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC
07 February 2014



Oxford Pharmascience Group plc



("Oxford Pharmascience" or "the Company")

Oxford PharmaScience Receives Regulatory Approval to Start Pilot Clinical Study of OXP001 400mg Ibuprofen

Oxford Pharmascience, the specialty pharmaceutical company that redevelops medicines to make them better, safer and easier to take, today announces that its Clinical Trial Application for OXP001 400mg Ibuprofen has received approval from the UK Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency ('MHRA') and the Ethics Review Committee. OXP001 delivers 400mg of ibuprofen via the company's OXPzero™ technology and it aims to provide significantly reduced risks of gastrointestinal (GI) side effects for use in the treatment of conditions requiring the chronic use of NSAIDs.

NSAIDs are one of the most widely used classes of drugs, with more than 30 million users worldwide consuming NSAIDs each day. However, chronic use of NSAIDs causes well documented GI side effects including ulcers and bleeding and lead to significant morbidity and mortality in many patients.

Marcelo Bravo, Chief Technology Officer commented

"Securing regulatory approval for our initial in-human clinical trial has achieved another important milestone in the development of safer NSAIDs via our OXPZero technology.

We are extremely excited about reaching this milestone as this is the first product of its kind featuring the OXPzero™ technology which has a dual mode of action to significantly reduce gastrointestinal side effects and will offer a new treatment option for those patients taking NSAIDs long term."

The pilot clinical study will be a two arm study between OXP001 and reference Ibuprofen 400 mg tablets in a total of 44 healthy adults and will assess the incidence of upper gastrointestinal irritation via endoscopy. Patient recruitment will start shortly aiming to dose the first patient early in March. Further details about the clinical trial are available via www.clinicaltrials.gov.