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.

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Initial formulation development complete
RNS
RNS Number : 4192W
Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC
28 January 2013



Oxford Pharmascience Group plc

("Oxford Pharmascience" or "the Company")

Oxford Pharmascience completes initial formulation development for leading statins



Oxford Pharmascience, the specialty pharmaceutical company that uses advanced pharmaceutic technologies to make medicines better, safer and easier to take, today announces successful completion of formulation development for its Safestat™ formulations of Atorvastatin and Simvastatin, leading generic statin drugs.

The Company has already announced its Safestat™ program which aims to re-formulate the widely used molecules of atorvastatin and simvastatin into doses up to four times lower than the original dose but with the same lipid lowering efficacy as the original higher dose. Global revenue from statins in 2009 was over $27bn despite issues caused by side effects of statins leading to lack of compliance in patients taking these medicines. Safestat™ aims to overcome these issues and increase patient compliance for statins.

The Company has now developed and optimised formulations of both atorvastatin and simvastatin and proven in-vitro release under simulated human conditions.

Marcelo Bravo, Chief Technology Officer of Oxford Pharmascience commented,

"Completion of formulation development is a first important milestone in the Safestat™ programme and we are now ready to proceed to manufacture of GMP products for use in proof of concept clinical trials during 2013."



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 develops advanced yet practical pharmaceutical technologies to enable reformulation that adds value to off patent and soon to be off patent drugs. The Company does not manufacture or sell its own pharmaceutical products but instead seeks to license its technologies to a network of partners, mainly leading pharmaceutical companies with Rx (prescription) and OTC (Over the Counter) branded portfolios. These partners use our technologies to reposition their products helping them sustain market share and profitability by delivering improved health outcomes and/or clinical profiles via reformulated versions of the same API (active pharmaceutical ingredient).

Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc develops platform technologies that have application across multiple drug categories and can be leveraged across a broad range of reformulation problems. This business model allows us to provide solutions across the industry and fund the ongoing development of cutting edge technologies to better serve the needs of our partners. The partner companies who adopt our technology pay an up-front license fee followed by development milestone payments and then royalties on finished products sold using the technology. OXP invests the upfront licence fee to optimise product development and to ensure seamless technology transfer to the pharmaceutical partner.

House broker N+1 Singer has a positive view on Oxford Pharmascience’s (LON:OXP) pipeline of opportunities, and this morning’s news indicates it is moving ahead on plans to capitalise on those opportunities.

Shares in Oxford Pharmascience shot up 25% today after it successfully completed the formulation development for its Safestat formulations of Atorvastatin and Simvastatin, the leading generic statin drugs.

“Oxford Pharmascience continues to make progress in expanding into the larger generic drugs market, building on its niche position in the over the counter market, and this morning’s news validates this,” the broker said.

“The group was featured in Lux Research’s ‘Top Emerging Technology Companies in 2012’ based on its ability to manipulate properties to improve oral delivery of medicine,” the broker added.

Closed up 26%

Oxford Pharmascience in good heart after passing statin milestone
10:36 am by John Harrington “We’re looking to get into production in 2015," said CEO Nigel Theobald.

If you are one of the many people with high cholesterol who is unable to take medication to lower it because of unpleasant side effects, yesterday’s news from Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) should get the pulse racing.

The group, which specialises in bringing out improved versions of off-patent and soon to be off-patent drugs, has completed the initial formulation development for its versions of generic cholesterol-lowering drugs, Atorvastatin and Simvastatin.

These two leading generic statins are widely prescribed by doctors to patients who have high cholesterol and for whom cholesterol reduction to a desirable level through a change of diet alone is insufficient.

One of the major problems with the statins, though, is that many users suffer unpleasant side effects such as inflammation and muscle damage.

A lower dosage would result in fewer side effects, but also, under normal circumstances, be less effective in lowering the patient’s cholesterol level.

However, Oxford Pharmascience’s Safestat development programme is working on a reformulation of atorvastatin and simvastatin to allow them to be accurately delivered to the colon where they are more effectively absorbed into the liver.

If you want to get “sciency” about it, the new formulation bypasses the gastro-intestinal tract, and this leads to higher levels of the drug reaching the liver, which is where all the cholesterol-inhibiting action goes on.

It’s this by-pass trick which means the same effect can be achieved at around a quarter of the dose, or at least it can under certain laboratory conditions.

As the company announcement put it, Oxford Pharmascience has “proven in-vitro release of its formulations under simulated human conditions.”

The statins market is a huge one, valued at more than US$29bn in 2009, but it could be a lot larger were it not for those pesky side effects.

Nigel Theobald, chief executive officer of Oxford Pharmascience, helpfully gave Proactive Investors an insight into how big the demand could be for its statin products.

“We usually quote figures from www.statinusage.com. Their survey reveals that 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,” Theobald said.

Oxford Pharmascience’s versions of statins would initially be ideal for “second line intervention” for cholesterol reduction, Theobald explained.

This is when the initial prescription of statins has not worked out, due to the aforementioned side effects.

Monday’s announcement was the first important milestone on the march to market – a march which might not be as long as you would expect, as Theobald explained.

“We’re looking to get into production in 2015. Now, two years might seem like a long time ahead to some, but in the drug development world it is short.

“By working with an existing drug with a proven safety record, we can get it to market a lot quicker and a lot cheaper.”

“We are very happy with the formulations in the lab. The next stage is to move on to manufacture the products to allow us to undertake proof of concept clinical trials this year.”

Theobald stressed that the manufacturing, under good manufacturing practice (GMP) conditions, is just for in-house testing purposes, as the company works to determine what levels of dosage are required to deliver required amounts of the statin to the liver.

Nevertheless, the 26% rise in the share price on Monday to 3.375p indicates that the first hurdle has been successfully negotiated; the shares are up another couple of per cent today.

Further down the road, the company will be looking at the possibility of bringing in a partner to help navigate the path to market.

Going great on this poor market day.

A three bagger at 3.81 :-))

Well done with this one dreamcatcher. I've just bought a few as I think the future is looking good.

up 11%

Thanks d4

http://www.barchart.com/opinions/stocks/OXP.LS&view=detailed

Doesn't get more positive than that - short term/medium term/long term -100% "buy".

Post 17 From Dec -

N+1 Singer sees Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) as an appealing investment case thanks to its diversified technology platforms, strong IP protection and generic drugs dossier ownership.

The broker, which has a target price of 13.41p -

As of Feb 23, 2013, the investment analyst covering Oxford Pharmascience Group Plc advises that the company will outperform the market.


http://markets.ft.com/research/Markets/Tearsheets/Forecasts?s=OXP:LSE

Placing and Notice of General Meeting
RNS
RNS Number : 7271Y
Oxford Pharmascience Group PLC
27 February 2013



Oxford Pharmascience Group plc

("Oxford Pharmascience" or the "Company")



Placing and Notice of General Meeting



Oxford Pharmascience, the specialty pharmaceutical company that uses advanced pharmaceutic technologies to reposition medicines, announces that it has conditionally raised £5 million (before expenses) through the placing of 166,666,667 New Ordinary Shares at a placing price of 3p per Ordinary Share with discretionary funds managed by Invesco Asset Management Limited. N+1 Singer acted as broker to the Placing.

The placing of these 166,666,667 New Ordinary Shares (the "Placing") is conditional on the Company obtaining approval from Shareholders to their allotment at the General Meeting. The net proceeds of the Placing will be used by the Group to further accelerate the development of the Group's business as described in more detail below.

The circular relating to the Placing (the "Circular") will be posted to shareholders shortly. The Circular contains a notice convening a general meeting of the Company to approve certain matters relating to the Placing. The general meeting of the Company will be held at the offices of Fasken Martineau LLP, Third Floor, 17 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HU at 10.00 am on 19 March 2013.

The Circular will soon be available to view on the Company's website (www.oxfordpharmascience.com). Copies of the Circular will also be available from the registered offices of Oxford Pharmascience at Third Floor, 17 Hanover Square, London, W1S 1HU.

Nigel Theobald, CEO, commented:

"The Company has made strong progress over the past two years in developing and commercialising its innovative technology platforms and recently raised £2 million to strengthen its position for continuing this effort.

We are delighted to have Invesco on board as a major shareholder. This new placement will raise additional funds to allow us to accelerate our work on commercialising our technology platforms and to strengthen our IP position by developing our own dossiers for a range of NSAIDs which we will seek to license to major pharmaceutical companies"

Defined terms are appended to this announcement and have the same meaning as the Circular. The letter from the Chairman to be contained in the Circular is repeated below without material adjustment

Oxford Pharmascience gets heavyweight backing to speed up growth plans
7:55 am by Philip WhiterowOxford specialises in taste masking technologies that enable drugs to be taken more easily and with fewer side effects.

Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) has brought on board a new major new shareholder though a fund raise to accelerate its growth plans.

Invesco Asset Management and its funds have taken up 166.7 mln new shares at 3p that will raise £5mln for the drug delivery group.

Oxford specialises in taste masking technologies that enable drugs to taken more easily and with fewer side effects.

Nigel Theobald, chief executive, said: “We are delighted to have Invesco on board as a major shareholder.

“This new placement will raise additional funds to allow us to accelerate our work on commercialising our technology platforms and to strengthen our IP position by developing our own dossiers for a range of NSAIDs [non steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs] which we will seek to license to major pharmaceutical companies."

In particular, Oxford said it wants to repeat the success it has enjoyed with its drug chew business, OXPchew, with taste masking technology platform OXPzero by first commercialising a product and then extending this to deals with other highly reputable pharmaceutical companies in the ibuprofen market.

Oxford also recently took up an option on from The School of Pharmacy, University College London to develop and commercialise a range of formulations of Simvastatin and Atorvastatin with reduced side effects.

The OXPtarget technology licensed from UCL will potentially allow the formulation of lower dose statins, with the equivalent lipid reduction effect of the current higher dose statin.

"The group's challenge is now to convert the OXPzero and OXPtarget technologies into real, exciting products that industry wants and to repeat the commercial success of OXPchew in the more attractive and higher value areas of NSAIDs and statins, Oxford said.

Shares have risen strongly since the start of the year. In November, Oxford raised £2mln through a placing at 1.3p.

With shares in Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP) steadily rising after a welter of good news from the drugs developer, heavyweight fund manager Invesco Asset Management decided it was time to get on board in a big way.

Invesco lobbed out £5mln to buy 166.7mln Oxford Pharma shares at 3p each, thereby joining a list of City institutions backing the company.

“This new placement will raise additional funds to allow us to accelerate our work on commercialising our technology platforms and to strengthen our IP [intellectual property] position by developing our own dossiers for a range of NSAIDs [non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs] which we will seek to license to major pharmaceutical companies," said Nigel Theobald, chief executive of Oxford Pharma.

Final Results

PERIOD HIGHLIGHTS

· Strong sales growth with Aché Laboratorios in Brazil

· Signing of first license with major pharmaceutical company, Bayer

· Signing of Heads of Terms with Hermes Pharma for OXP zero™ Ibuprofen direct to mouth granules

· Commencement of Safestat™ program for safer versions of Atorvastatin and Simvastatin

· Successful scale up of OXPzero™ ibuprofen

· £2m fund raising in November 2012

· Feasibility and option agreement signed with major pharmaceutical company for OXPzero™

· Successful in-vitro development of re-formulated Atorvastatin and Simvastatin




http://www.moneyam.com/action/news/showArticle?id=4558088

Oxford Pharmascience enjoys bounce from Brazil
11:00 am by John Harrington N+1 Singer has maintained its positive stance as it believes the group is positioning itself to capitalise on its pipeline of opportunities.


Eye-catching top line growth fed through to a sharp reduction in losses in 2012 at drugs developer Oxford Pharmascience (LON:OXP).

Results for the year were ahead of expectations, with revenue up 65% to £466,000 from £282,000 the year before, thanks in large part to strong sales in Brazil from one of the group’s OXPchew technology partners, Aché Laboratórios, and the generation of licensing and development income.

The loss before tax narrowed to £818,000 from £936,000 a year earlier. Loss per share contracted to 0.13p from a loss of 0.19p in 2011.

Market expectations were for revenue of £400,000, a loss before tax of £1mln and a loss per share of 0.20p.

Thanks to a tax rebate, Oxford Pharmascience’s post-tax loss was £783,000, versus a loss of £926,000 the year before.

The loss on operations reflects the company's investment during 2012 in developing and strengthening its platform technologies OXPzero and OXPtarget; the former is Oxford Pharma’s taste-masking technology which sets out to make redundant the old adage about the best medicine always tastes horrible, while OXPtarget is a drug delivery technology that aims to provide effective cholesterol-lowering medicine at lower dosage levels.

"We are continuing to show strong sales growth for our technology platform already in the market (OXPchew) and have strengthened our other technology platforms (OXPzero and OXPtarget) putting them in a strong position to secure attractive licensing deals,” said chief executive Nigel Theobald.

“We are very excited about the prospects for our platform technologies and are looking to continue our recent growth in the coming years," he added.

Shares in Oxford Pharmascience rose 0.5p to 3.35p in the first half hour of trading following the results.

The shares have been on a fantastic run over the last year, rising more than 150%, paving the way for a successful fund raising in late February, which saw heavyweight investor Invesco Asset Management pump £5mln into the group.

Those funds will enable the group to speed up its growth plans; essentially it will give the company the wherewithal to run test programmes in parallel rather than in series, Theobald explained to Proactive Investors last month.

“The group's challenge is now to convert the OXPzero and OXPtarget technologies into real, exciting products that industry wants and to repeat the commercial success of OXPchew in the more attractive and higher value areas of NSAIDs (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs) and Statins,” said company chairman David Norwood.

House broker N+1 Singer has been bashing away at the calculator since the figures came out and has made some modest upward adjustments to its earnings forecasts for 2013 and 2014.

“Following the £5mln raise to progress the development of the group’s technology platforms, the statin offering in particular, we have increased the royalty rate we initially assigned to OXP target to 10% (from 3%) as we believe the group has the capability of progressing the development further on its own, and as a result, signing a more attractive commercial agreement. This has resulted in an intrinsic value of 6.8p per share,” N+1 Singer said.

The broker has maintained its positive stance as it believes the group is positioning itself to capitalise on its pipeline of opportunities.

“The change in focus to the higher value pharmaceutical market in 2011 is proving to have been a pivotal decision and one, in our view, that has the potential to reap significant benefits,” the broker said

Seems to be stirring into life again today, news in the pipeline?

Another 5% today doodlebug